Gordian II Gordian II ( ; c . 192 – April 12 , 238 ) , was Roman Emperor for one month with his father Gordian I in 238 , the Year of the Six Emperors . Seeking to overthrow the Emperor Maximinus Thrax , he died in battle outside of Carthage . Early life . Born c . 192 , Gordian II was the only known son of Marcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus the Elder . His family were of Equestrian rank , who were modest and very wealthy . Gordian was said to be related to prominent senators . His praenomen and nomen " Marcus Antonius " suggest that his paternal ancestors received Roman citizenship under the Triumvir Mark Antony , or one of his daughters , during the late Roman Republic . Gordian ’ s cognomen ‘ Gordianus ’ suggests that his family origins were from Anatolia , especially Galatia and Cappadocia . According to the notoriously unreliable Historia Augusta , his mother was a Roman woman called Fabia Orestilla , born circa 165 , who the Augustan History claims was a descendant of Roman 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 may have been the granddaughter of Greek Sophist , consul and tutor Herodes Atticus . His younger sister was Antonia Gordiana , 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 ' reign and as praetor and consul suffect with Emperor Alexander Severus . In 237 , Gordian went to the Africa Proconsularis as a legatus under his father ' s command as a proconsular governor . Revolt against Maximinus Thrax . Early in 235 , Emperor Alexander Severus and his mother Julia Avita Mamaea were assassinated by mutinous troops at Moguntiacum in Germania Inferior . The leader of the rebellion , Maximinus Thrax , became Emperor , despite his low - born background and the disapproval of the Roman Senate . Confronted by a local elite that had just killed Maximinus ' s procurator , Gordian ' s father was forced to participate in a full - scale revolt against Maximinus in 238 and became Augustus on March 22 . Due to Gordian I ' s advanced age , the younger Gordian was attached to the imperial throne and acclaimed Augustus too . Like his father , he too was awarded the " cognomen " Africanus . Father and son saw their claim to the throne ratified both by the Senate 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 stationing in the region , III " Augusta " , and other veteran units . 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 . Hearing the news , his father took his own life . This first rebellion against Maximinus Thrax was unsuccessful but , by the end of 238 , Gordian II ' s nephew would be recognised emperor by the whole Roman world as Gordian III .