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GORDIAN, or GORDIANUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 247 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GORDIAN, or GORDIANUS , the name of three See also:Roman emperors. The first, See also:Marcus See also:Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus See also:Romanus See also:Africanus (A.D. 159-238), an extremely wealthy See also:man, was descended from the Gracchi and See also:Trajan, while his wife was the See also:great-granddaughter of See also:Antoninus See also:Pius. While he gained unbounded popularity by his magnificent See also:games and shows, his prudent and retired See also:life did not excite the suspicion of CaracalIa, in whose See also:honour he wrote a See also:long epic called Antoninias. See also:Alexander See also:Severus called him to the dangerous honours of See also:government in See also:Africa, and during his proconsulship occurred the usurpation of Maximin. The universal discontent roused by the oppressive See also:rule of Maximin culminated in a revolt in Africa in 238, and Gordian reluctantly yielded to the popular clamour and assumed the See also:purple. His son, Marcus Antonius Gordianus (192-238), was associated with him in the dignity. The See also:senate confirmed the choice of the Africans, and most of the provinces gladly sided with the new, emperors; but, even while their cause was so successful abroad, they had fallen before the sudden inroad of Cappellianus, legatus of See also:Numidia and a supporter of Maximin. They had reigned only See also:thirty-six days. Both the Gordians had deserved by their amiable See also:character their high reputation; they were men of great accomplishments, fond of literature, and voluminous authors; but they were rather intellectual voluptuaries than able statesmen or powerful rulers. Having embraced the cause of Gordian, the senate was obliged to continue the revolt against Maximin, and appointed Pupienus See also:Maximus and Caelius Balbinus, two of its noblest and most esteemed members, as See also:joint emperors. At their inauguration a See also:sedition arose, and the popular outcry for a Gordian was appeased by the association with them of M.

Antonius Gordianus Pius (224-244), See also:

grandson of the See also:elder Gordian, then a boy of thirteen. Maximin forthwith invaded See also:Italy, but was murdered by his own troops while besieging See also:Aquileia, and a revolt of the praetorian See also:guards, to which Pupienus and Balbinus See also:fell victims, See also:left Gordian See also:sole See also:emperor. For some See also:time he was under the See also:control of his See also:mother's eunuchs, till Timesitheus,l his See also:father-in-See also:law and See also:praefect of the praetorian guard, persuaded him to assert his See also:independence. When the Persians under See also:Shapur (Sapor) I. invaded See also:Mesopotamia, the See also:young emperor opened the See also:temple of See also:Janus for the last time recorded in See also:history, and marched in See also:person to the See also:East. The Persians were driven back over the See also:Euphrates and defeated in the See also:battle of Resaena (243), and only the See also:death of Timesitheus (under suspicious circumstances) prevented an advance into the enemy's territory. See also:Philip the Arabian, who succeeded Timesitheus, stirred up discontent in the See also:army, 'and Gordian was murdered by the mutinous soldiers in Mesopotamia. See lives of the Gordians by Capitolinus in the Scriptores historiae Augustae; Herodian vii. viii.; See also:Zosimus i. 16, i8; See also:Ammianus See also:Marcellinus. See also:xxiii. 5; See also:Eutropius ix. 2; Aurelius See also:Victor, Caesares, 27; See also:article SHAPUR (I.); Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopadie, i. 2619 f. (von Rohden).

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