Jovian
Roman emperor from 363 to 364 · Politicians · Lived 331 to 364 · aged 33
A Roman emperor for seven months who never made it home. Jovian inherited an army trapped in Persia after Julian's death in battle, signed away territory to escape, and died on the road back to Constantinople - the last man to rule the whole empire alone.
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Jovian was part of the imperial bodyguard when he joined Julian's Persian expedition in 363. After Julian was killed in battle, the exhausted and ill-provisioned Roman army declared Jovian emperor in June 363. Unable to cross the Tigris, he negotiated peace with the Sasanian Empire on humiliating terms to extract his forces. A Christian, his accession ended the brief imperial revival of polytheism under Julian; during a stop in Edessa, bishops petitioned him over doctrine. He spent his seven-month reign traveling back toward Constantinople but died at Dadastana on 17 February 364 without reaching the capital. He was the third-to-last emperor to govern the empire as a single polity and the last to do so for his entire reign - from his successor Valentinian I forward, the empire split into East and West under co-emperors.
