ABSTRACT
With Julian’s death the house of Constantine became extinct and Julian had nominated no successor. A meeting of the generals and civilian ministers was hastily called and a division soon became apparent between the generals appointed by Constantius and those whom Julian had promoted. The two groups agreed to offer the crown to Salutius Secundus, the praetorian prefect, an elderly pagan who was generally respected. On his refusal they compromised on a nonentity, Jovian, the senior member of the corps of domestici and the son of a popular comes domesticorum. He was in his early thirties, a Pannonian and a Christian. Anxious to extricate his army and to establish his position at home, Jovian hastily signed a very unfavourable peace with Persia whereby he surrendered not only the satrapies across the Tigris conquered by Diocletian but the important frontier cities of Nisibis and Singara as well. On 17 February 364 he died at Ancyra in Galatia.
