GORDIANUS

GORDIANUS, the name of three Roman Emperors, father, son, and grandson. MARCUS ANTONIUS GORDIANUS, surnamed Africanus, rose to be an ædile, consul twice, and subsequently became proconsul of Africa; on the deposition of the Emperor Maximinus in 238, he, then in his eightieth year, was proclaimed emperor, his son (b. A.D. 192) being associated with him in the imperial office; grief at the death of his son, killed in battle, caused him to commit suicide a month after he had assumed the purple; he was a man of refined and generous nature. MARCUS ANTONIUS GORDIANUS, grandson of preceding, was early raised to the dignity of Cæsar, and in 238 rose to the rank of Augustus; his most important achievement was his driving back of the Persians beyond the Euphrates and his relief of Antioch; he was assassinated in 244 by his own soldiers while preparing to cross the Euphrates.