According to the notoriously unreliableHistoria Augusta, his mother was a Roman woman calledFabia Orestilla,[4] born circa 165, who theHistoria claims was a descendant of emperorsAntoninus Pius andMarcus Aurelius through her father Fulvus Antoninus.[4] Modern historians have dismissed this name and her information as false.[8] There is some evidence to suggest that Gordian's mother might have been the granddaughter of the Greek Sophist, consul and tutorHerodes Atticus.[9] His younger sister wasMaecia Faustina, who was the mother of EmperorGordian 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 theHistoria 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.[10] According to this source, Gordian served asquaestor inElagabalus' reign[11] and aspraetor andconsul suffect with EmperorSeverus Alexander.[12][13] In 237 or 238, Gordian went to the province ofAfrica Proconsularis as alegatus under his father, who served asproconsular governor.[14]
Early in 235, Emperor Alexander Severus and his motherJulia Avita Mamaea were assassinated by mutinous troops atMoguntiacum (now Mainz) inGermania Inferior.[15] The leader of the rebellion,Maximinus Thrax, became Emperor, despite his low-born background and the disapproval of theRoman Senate.[16] Confronted by a local elite that had just killed Maximinus'sprocurator,[17] Gordian's father was forced to participate in a full-scale revolt against Maximinus in 238, probably at the end of March.[9] Due to Gordian I's advanced age, the younger Gordian, said to be 46 years old,[18] was attached to the imperial throne and acclaimedaugustus too. Like his father, he too was awarded thecognomen "Africanus".[9]
Father and son saw their claim to the throne ratified both by the Senate[19] and most of the other provinces, due to Maximinus' unpopularity.[20]
Opposition would come from the neighbouring province ofNumidia.[20]Capelianus, governor of Numidia, a loyal supporter of Maximinus Thrax, and who held a grudge against Gordian,[20] renewed his allegiance to the reigning emperor[17] and invadedAfrica (province) with the only legion stationed in the region,IIIAugusta, and other veteran units.[21] Gordian II, at the head of a militia army of untrained soldiers, lost theBattle of Carthage and was killed.[9] According to theHistoria Augusta, his body was never recovered.[22] Hearing the news, his father killed himself.[9] The Gordians ruled only 22 days.[23][24][25] This first rebellion against Maximinus Thrax was unsuccessful, but by the end of 238 Gordian II's nephew,Gordian III, would be recognised as emperor by the whole Roman world.[26]
According toEdward Gibbon, in the first volume ofThe History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–89), "Twenty-two acknowledged concubines, and a library of sixty-two thousand volumes, attested to the variety of [Gordian's] inclinations; and from the productions that he left behind him, it appears that the former as well as the latter were designed for use rather than ostentation."[27]
^Possibly second only toQuintillus, who, according to some sources, reigned for just 17 days. However, sources of his reign are contradictory, and Quintillus more likely ruled at least one month.Syvänne, Ilkka (2020).Aurelian and Probus.Pen and Sword. p. 65.ISBN9781526767530.
^Zonaras (c. 1120)Epitomexvii.17: "According to some they reigned about twenty-two days, but according to others not quite three months". He confuses the Gordians withBalbinus andPupienus.
