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Gordian II (; 192 – April 238) was briefly Roman emperor with his father Gordian I in 238, the Year of the Six Emperors. Seeking to overthrow Maximinus Thrax, he died in battle outside Carthage. Since he died before his father, Gordian II had the shortest recorded reign of any Roman emperor, at about 22 days.Possibly second only to Quintillus, 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.
According to the notoriously unreliable Historia Augusta, his mother was a Roman woman called Fabia Orestilla, born circa 165, who the Historia claims was a descendant of emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius through her father Fulvus Antoninus. Modern historians have dismissed this name and her information as false. There is some evidence to suggest that Gordian's mother might have been the granddaughter of the Greek Sophist, consul and tutor Herodes Atticus. His younger sister was Maecia Faustina, who was the mother of Emperor Gordian 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 the Historia 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. According to this source, Gordian served as quaestor in Elagabalus' reignHistoria Augusta, The Three Gordians, 18:4 and as praetor and consul with Emperor Severus Alexander.Historia Augusta, The Three Gordians, 18:5 In 237 or 238, Gordian went to the province of Africa Proconsularis as a legatus under his father, who served as governor.
Father and son saw their claim to the throne ratified both by the SenateHerodian, 7:7:2 and most of the other provinces, due to Maximinus' unpopularity.
Opposition would come from the neighbouring province of Numidia. Capelianus, governor of Numidia, a loyal supporter of Maximinus Thrax, and who held a grudge against Gordian, renewed his allegiance to the reigning emperor and invaded Africa (province) with the only legion stationed in the region, III Augusta, and other veteran units.Herodian, 7:9:3 Gordian II, at the head of a militia army of untrained soldiers, lost the Battle of Carthage and was killed. According to the Historia Augusta, his body was never recovered.Historia Augusta, The Three Gordians, 16:1 Hearing the news, his father killed himself. The Gordians ruled only 22 days.Filocalus, Chronograph of 354, Part 16: "The two Gordians ruled for 20 days. They died in Africa." Laterculus (7th century): "Gordian ruled 22 days."Zonaras ( 1120) Epitome xvii.17: "According to some they reigned about twenty-two days, but according to others not quite three months". He confuses the Gordians with Balbinus and Pupienus. 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.
According to Edward Gibbon, in the first volume of The 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."Quoted in "From the Editor. Ambition, Style and Sacrifices", History Today, June 2017, p. 3.
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