Gordian I Africanus
159 – 238 · Generation XI · Roman emperor (AD 238) · The Third Century
Gordian I (AD 159 – AD 238). Roman emperor (AD 238). Proclaimed at nearly eighty in the African revolt; reigned twenty-one days and hanged himself when his son fell in battle. A senator whose name suggests Anatolian origins, he had a long, careful career: command of Legio IV Scythica in Syria, the governorship of Britain in 216, a suffect consulship, and a reputation for magnificent games given as aedile. He kept clear of intrigue through the Severan decades, even writing an epic poem in Caracalla’s honour. The lot gave him the proconsulship of Africa, and when discontent with Maximinus Thrax boiled into revolt, the crowd pressed the purple on a reluctant old man, who took the cognomen “Africanus” and insisted his son share the office. Carthage welcomed him and the Senate confirmed him, but Capelianus, governor of neighbouring Numidia, marched on the province with its only legion. He was the first emperor to die by his own hand since Otho; before the year was out his grandson Gordian III held the throne.
One of 11 people of The Third Century (159–285) in this archive. Not one house but several short ones, in the fifty years the empire nearly came apart.
Children
- Gordian II Africanus (192 – 238)
- Antonia Gordiana (201 – 250)