TY - BOOK
T1 - The Forgotten Reign of the Emperor Jovian (363-364)
T2 - History and Fiction
AU - Drijvers, Jan Willem
PY - 2022/4/29
Y1 - 2022/4/29
N2 - This book is the first modern scholarly monograph on the emperor Jovian (363–364). It offers a new assessment of his reign and argues that Jovian’s reign was of more importance than assumed by most (ancient and modern) historians. This study argues that Jovian restored the Roman Empire after the failed reign of Julian by returning to the policies of Constantius II and Constantine the Great. Jovian’s general strategies were directed to getting the Roman Empire back on its feet militarily, administratively, and religiously after the failed reign of his predecessor Julian (361–363), as well as to establish more peaceful relations with the Sassanid Empire. For an emperor who ruled only eight months, Jovian had an unexpected and surprising afterlife. The rarely studied and largely unknown Syriac Julian Romance offers a surprising and different perspective on person and reign of Jovian. In the Romance, Jovian is presented as the ideal Christian emperor and a new Constantine. But the Romance is also an important source for Roman–Persian relations and the positioning of Syriac Christianity in the late antique world of Christendom.
AB - This book is the first modern scholarly monograph on the emperor Jovian (363–364). It offers a new assessment of his reign and argues that Jovian’s reign was of more importance than assumed by most (ancient and modern) historians. This study argues that Jovian restored the Roman Empire after the failed reign of Julian by returning to the policies of Constantius II and Constantine the Great. Jovian’s general strategies were directed to getting the Roman Empire back on its feet militarily, administratively, and religiously after the failed reign of his predecessor Julian (361–363), as well as to establish more peaceful relations with the Sassanid Empire. For an emperor who ruled only eight months, Jovian had an unexpected and surprising afterlife. The rarely studied and largely unknown Syriac Julian Romance offers a surprising and different perspective on person and reign of Jovian. In the Romance, Jovian is presented as the ideal Christian emperor and a new Constantine. But the Romance is also an important source for Roman–Persian relations and the positioning of Syriac Christianity in the late antique world of Christendom.
U2 - 10.1093/oso/9780197600702.001.0001
DO - 10.1093/oso/9780197600702.001.0001
M3 - Book
SN - 9780197600702
T3 - Oxford Studies in Late Antiquity
BT - The Forgotten Reign of the Emperor Jovian (363-364)
PB - Oxford University Press
CY - New York
ER -