AE Follis AE3, A.D. 363-364, Heraclea, 21.2mm, 2.56g, 150°, RIC VIII 110; scarce.
Obv: D N IOVIANVS P F AVG. Pearl diademed, draped and cuirassed bust left.
Rev: VOT V MVLT X within wreath; HERACB in ex.
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Flavius Jovianus Augustus was born at Singidunum (today Belgrade, Serbia) in 331, son of Varronianus, the commander of Constantius II's imperial bodyguards. He also joined the guards, and by 363 had risen to the same command that his father had once held. In this capacity, Jovian accompanied the Roman Emperor Julian on the Mesopotamian campaign of the same year against Shapur II, the Sassanid king. After a small but decisive engagement the Roman army was forced to retreat from the numerically superior Persian force. Julian was mortally wounded during the retreat and died on 26 June 363. The next day, after the aged Salutius, praetorian prefect of the Orient, declined the purple, the choice of the army fell upon Jovian.

Jovian continued the retreat begun by Julian and, continually harassed by the Persians, succeeded in reaching the banks of the Tigris where Jovian, deep inside Sassanid territory, was forced to sue for a peace treaty on humiliatingly unfavourable terms. Agreeing to withdraw from the five Roman provinces conquered by Galerius in 298, east of the Tigris, that Diocletian had annexed and allow the Persians to occupy the fortresses of Nisibis, Castra Maurorum and Singara. The Romans also surrendered their interests in the Kingdom of Armenia to the Persians. The treaty was widely seen as a disgrace and Jovian rapidly lost popularity. Jovian also re-established the practice of Christianity in the empire after a brief revival of traditional Roman pagan practices during the reign of Julian.

After arriving at Antioch, Jovian decided to rush to Constantinople to consolidate his political position there. He died on 17 February 364 after a reign of only eight months. During his return to Constantinople, Jovian was found dead in bed in his tent at Dadastana, halfway between Ancyra and Nicaea. His death has been attributed to either a surfeit of mushrooms or the poisonous carbon monoxide fumes of a charcoal warming fire. Jovian was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.