Gordian I

Gordian I was an elderly senator and provincial governor who was proclaimed emperor in Africa in AD 238 after a revolt against the fiscal agents of Maximinus Thrax. He accepted the throne jointly with his son Gordian II and received senatorial recognition in Rome. Their forces were quickly defeated by the governor of neighbouring Numidia, whose legion remained loyal to Maximinus. After learning of his son’s death, Gordian I took his own life, ending a reign of only a few weeks.

Harry Sidebottom’s Throne of the Caesars series, beginning with Iron and Rust, dramatises the uprising of the Gordians and the wider crisis of 238. Fiction often presents Gordian I as a reluctant respectable figure elevated by provincial anger rather than personal ambition. His brief reign shows how local tax grievances could become an empire-wide struggle once the senate and armies chose opposing rulers.

In Harry Sidebottom’s Blood and Steel, Landowners and officials in Roman Africa proclaim the elderly Gordian I and his son Gordian II as emperors, forcing the Senate to decide whether to support them or submit to the soldier-emperor marching towards Italy.