GORDIAN II Africanus Roman Emperor 238AD Biography Ancient Roman
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GORDIAN II Africanus Roman Emperor
coins from a trusted ancient coin dealer. Gordian II was
Roman Emperor for one month with his father
Gordian I in 238, the
Year of the Six Emperors. Seeking to overthrow the Emperor
Maximinus Thrax, he died in battle outside of
Carthage.
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Gordian II (Latin:
Marcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus
Romanus Africanus Augustus; c. 192 – April 12, 238), was
Roman Emperor for one month with his father
Gordian I in 238, the
Year of the Six Emperors. Seeking to overthrow the Emperor
Maximinus Thrax, he died in battle outside of
Carthage.
Early career
Born c. 192, Gordian II was the only known son of
Marcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus the Elder. His family were of
Equestrian rank, who were modest and very wealthy. Gordian was said
to be related to prominent senators. His praenomen and nomen Marcus
Antonius suggest that his paternal ancestors received Roman
citizenship under the Triumvir
Mark Antony, or one of his daughters, during the late
Roman Republic. Gordian’s cognomen ‘Gordianus’ suggests that his
family origins were from
Anatolia, especially
Galatia
and
Cappadocia.
According to the notoriously unreliable
Historia Augusta, his mother was a Roman woman called
Fabia Orestilla, born circa 165, who the Augustan History claims was
a descendant of Roman Emperors
Antoninus Pius and
Marcus Aurelius through her father Fulvus Antoninus. Modern
historians have dismissed this name and her information as false. There
is some evidence to suggest that Gordian's mother may have been the
granddaughter of Greek Sophist, consul and tutor
Herodes Atticus. His younger sister was
Antonia Gordiana, who was the mother of Emperor
Gordian III.
Although the memory of the Gordians would have been cherished by the
Senate and thus appear sympathetic in any Senatorial documentation of
the period, the only account of Gordian's early career that has survived
is contained within the Historia Augusta, and it cannot be taken as an
accurate or reliable description of his life story prior to his
elevation to the purple in 238. According to this source, Gordian served
as
quaestor in
Elagabalus' reign[10]
and as
praetor and
consul
suffect with Emperor
Alexander Severus. In 237, Gordian went to the
Africa Proconsularis as a
legatus
under his father's command as a
proconsular governor.
Gordian II on a coin, celebrating his military prowess
Revolt
against Maximinus Thrax
Early in 235, Emperor Alexander Severus and his mother
Julia Avita Mamaea were assassinated by mutinous troops at
Moguntiacum
in
Germania Inferior. The leader of the rebellion,
Maximinus Thrax, became Emperor, despite his low-born background and
the disapproval of the
Roman Senate. Confronted by a local elite that had just killed
Maximinus's
procurator, Gordian's father was forced to participate in a full
scale revolt against Maximinus in 238 and became
Augustus on March 22. Due to Gordian I's advanced age, the younger
Gordian was attached to the imperial throne and acclaimed Augustus too.
Like his father, he too was awarded the
cognomen Africanus.
Father and son saw their claim to the throne ratified both by the
Senate and most of the other provinces, due to Maximinus' unpopularity.
Opposition would come from the neighbouring province of
Numidia.
Capelianus, governor of Numidia, a loyal supporter of Maximinus
Thrax, and who held a grudge against Gordian,[16]
renewed his allegiance to the reigning emperor and invaded Africa
province with the only legion stationing in the region,
III Augusta, and other veteran units. Gordian II, at the head
of a militia army of untrained soldiers, lost the
Battle of Carthage and was killed. According to the Historia
Augusta, his body was never recovered. Hearing the news, his father took
his own life. This first rebellion against Maximinus Thrax was
unsuccessful but, by the end of 238, Gordian II's nephew would be
recognised emperor by the whole Roman world as
Gordian III .
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