Jovian (Flavius Claudius Jovianus), Roman emperor, died in February, 364, after a reign of seven months. The son of Varronia-nus, one of the greatest generals of his age, he was captain of the body guards of the emperor Julian, and participated in his fatal campaign against the Persians. After the death of Julian, he was proclaimed emperor by the legions, and declared himself a Christian. His army was in the midst of a hostile country, from which his first care was to extricate it. But Sapor, the Persian monarch, so harassed his march with repeated attacks, that Jovian, to save his army from destruction, consented to an ignominious peace, which restored to the Persians several possessions formerly wrested from them, both E. and W. of the Tigris. On reaching the Roman territory, the emperor caused an edict to be issued which abrogated Julian's edicts against the Christians, and restored the supremacy of their religion; but he would not permit the pagans to be oppressed on account of their belief. On the way to Constantinople he arrived, Feb. 16, 364, at Da-dastana, an obscure village of Galatia, where he was found dead in his bed the next morning; whether suffocated by the charcoal fire in the room, or overcome by intemperance, or the victim of poison, is uncertain.