JOVIAN, the Roman emperor, elected by the army after the death of Julian the Apostate, in 363. He at first refused to assume the purple, saying he would not command idolatrous soldiers; but, upon an assurance that they would embrace Christianity, he accepted the throne, and immediately shut all the pagan temples. But he did not long enjoy the dignity to which his merit had raised him, having been suffocated in his bed by the fumes of a fire which had been made to dry the chamber. This happened A. D. 364, in the thirty-third year of his age, and the eighth month of his reign. See CONSTANTINOPLE.