The
Jovians and
Herculians (Latin:
Herculiani) were the senior palatine
imperial guardThe Imperial Guard was originally a small group of elite soldiers of the French Army under the direct command of Napoleon I, but grew considerably over time. It acted as his bodyguard and tactical reserve, and he was careful of its use in battle...
units of the Emperors of the late
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
from the 290s until the 7th century.
History
The name originated in the equation of the two co-emperors
DiocletianGaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus , born Diocles and commonly known as Diocletian , was Roman Emperor from 20 November 284 to 1 May 305. Born to a Dalmatian family of low status, he rose through the ranks of the military to become cavalry commander to the emperor Carus...
and
MaximianMarcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius , commonly referred to as Maximian, was Caesar from July 285 and Augustus from April 1, 286 to May 1, 305. He shared the latter title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocletian, whose political brain complemented Maximian's military brawn...
with the Roman gods
JoveIn Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods, and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon. He was called Iuppiter Optimus Maximus ; as the patron deity of the Roman state, he ruled over laws and social order...
and
HerculesHercules is the Roman name for the mythical Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmena. Early Roman sources suggest that the imported Greek hero supplanted a mythic Italic shepherd called "Recaranus" or "Garanus", famous for his strength, who dedicated the Ara Maxima that became...
. The old-established
Praetorian GuardThe Praetorian Guard was a force of bodyguards used by Roman Emperors. Before being appropriated for the use of the Emperors' personal guards, the title was used for the guards of Roman generals, at least since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC...
was based at the
Castra PraetoriaCastra Praetoria were the ancient barracks of the Praetorian Guard of Imperial Rome.According to the Roman historian Suetonius, the barracks were built in 23 AD by Lucius Aelius Sejanus, the praetorian prefect serving under the emperor Tiberius, in an effort to consolidate the several divisions of...
in Rome, and had frequently proved disloyal to the Crown, making and deposing emperors and even on one occasion in 193 putting the Imperial throne up for auction to the highest bidder (cf:
Didius JulianusMarcus Didius Severus Julianus was briefly Roman Emperor from 28 March 193 to 1 June 193. He ascended the throne after buying it from the Praetorian Guard, who had assassinated his predecessor Pertinax. This led to the Roman Civil War of 193–197...
). Thus Diocletian, who ruled from
NicomediaNicomedia was founded by Nicomedes I of Bithynia at the head of the Gulf of Astacus which opens to the Propontis. The city was founded in 712/11 BC as a Megarian colony and, in early Antiquity, was called Astacus...
, promoted two faithful legions from the
IllyricumIllyria was in Classical antiquity a region in the western part of today's Balkan Peninsula, inhabited by the Illyrians, a heterogeneous coalition of tribes, about whom very little is known, though a number of them are assumed to have been united by a common Illyrian language.Illyria and the...
(
Legio V IoviaLegio V Iovia was a Roman legion levied by Diocletian in the end of the 3rd century, and was still in service at the beginning of the 5th century...
and
VI HerculiaLegio VI Herculia was a Roman legion levied by Diocletian in the end of the 3rd century, and was still in service at the beginning of the 5th century...
), the area he was also descended from, to be the personal protectors of the Roman Emperors. On their promotion, the two old legions were renamed
Ioviani and
Herculiani. The Praetorian Guard continued to exist until its abolishment by
Constantine ICaesar Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus , commonly known in English as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine , was Roman emperor from 306, and the sole holder of that office from 324 until his death in...
in ca. 312, and replaced as the imperial guard by the
Scholae PalatinaeThe Scholae Palatinae , were an elite military guard unit, usually ascribed to the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great as a replacement to the Praetorian Guard...
. The two legions however continued to be counted among the senior units of the army, and after its division between East and
WestThe Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire, from its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, today widely known as the Byzantine Empire....
, they too were divided.
In the late 4th century document
Notitia DignitatumThe Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Roman imperial chanceries. One of the very few surviving documents of Roman government, it details the administrative organisation of the eastern and western empires, listing several thousand offices from the imperial court down to the provincial...
, they are listed, for the West (bearing the title
seniores), as directly under the command of the
magister peditum, and for the East (the
iuniores, junior to their counterparts in the West), as being under the command of the
magister militumMagister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...
praesentalis. In
398- Western Roman Empire :* An imperial edict obliges Roman landowners to yield 1/3 of their fields to the barbarians who have been settled in the Empire.* Honorius marries, in quick succession, Stilicho's daughters Maria and Thermantia.- Deaths :...
, the Jovians and Herculians of the West were part of the small body that invaded
Africa ProvinceThe Roman province of Africa was established after the Romans defeated Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day northern Tunisia, north-eastern Algeria and the Mediterranean coast of modern-day western Libya along the Syrtis Minor...
and suppressed the
Gildonic revoltThe Gildonic revolt was a rebellion in 398 led by Comes Gildo against Roman Emperor Honorius. The revolt was subdued by Flavius Stilicho, the magister militum of the Western Roman empire.-Background:...
.