The Roman emperor Jovian (AD 363-364) only ruled for eight months and has not received much attention in scholarship. However, his reign is more than a footnote in history. After the short reign of Julian, who had attempted to return to the empire to pagan practices, Jovian returned to the policies and religious practices of Julian’s predecessors Constantius II and Constantine the Great. His peace agreement with the Sassanid king Shapur II also had great impact for Roman-Persian relations.

This first part of presentation evaluates this peace agreement, the responses to it and its long-term influence on the relationship between the Roman and Persian empire.

In addition, Jovian had an unexpected afterlife in the so-called Julian Romance, a rarely studied text of Christian historical fiction. This Christian narrative presents Jovian as an ideal Christian emperor and a new Constantine. It offers also surprising perspectives on Roman-Persian relations which will be discussed in the second part of the presentation.