Gordian II (Latin:Marcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus Romanus;c. 192 – April 238) was brieflyRoman emperor with his fatherGordian I in 238 AD, theYear of the Six Emperors. Seeking to overthrowMaximinus Thrax, he died in battle outsideCarthage. Since he died before his father, Gordian II hadthe shortest recorded reign of any Roman emperor, at about 22 days.^[5]

Gordian II
Sestertius featuring Gordian II. The inscription readsimpcaesmant gordianvsafravg.
Roman emperor
Reign	c. March – April 238[1]
Predecessor	Maximinus Thrax
Successor	Pupienus andBalbinus
Co-emperor	Gordian I
Born	c. 192
Died	April 238 (agedc. 46) Carthage,Africa Proconsularis
Names Marcus Antonius Gordianus[2] Regnal name Imperator Caesar Marcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus Romanus Africanus Augustus[3]
Dynasty	Gordian
Father	Gordian I
Mother	Unknown, possibly Fabia Orestilla.[4]

Bornc. 192, Gordian II was the only known son ofGordian I, who was said to be related to prominent senators.^[6] His praenomen and nomenMarcus Antonius suggest that his paternal ancestors received Roman citizenship under the triumvirMark Antony, or one of his daughters, during the lateRoman Republic.^[6] Gordian's cognomen "Gordianus" suggests that his family origins were fromAnatolia, especiallyGalatia andCappadocia.^[7]

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]

• Villa Gordiani

• Aurelius Victor,Epitome de Caesaribus
• Herodian,Roman History, Book 7
• Historia Augusta,The Three Gordians
• Joannes Zonaras,Compendium of History
• Zosimus,Historia Nova

• Birley, Anthony (2005).The Roman Government in Britain. Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-925237-4.
• Gibbon, Edward (1888).The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
• Meckler, David Stone (2001)."Gordian II (238 A.D.)".De Imperatoribus Romanis.
• Potter, David Stone (2004).The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180–395. Routledge.
• Southern, Pat (2015) [2001].The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.ISBN 978-0-415-73807-1.
• Syme, Ronald (1971).Emperors and Biography. Oxford University Press.

• Gordian II coinage