Antonia Gordiana
Antonia Gordiana was the daughter of the Roman Emperor Gordian I , the sister of the Emperor Gordian II and the mother of the Emperor Gordian III.
Life
The name Maecia Faustina , ascribed in the Historia Augusta , is rejected as fictional by modern historians. The other information in the notoriously unreliable history of Gordiana's biography should also be treated with caution. As a result, she grew up with her older brother Gordian in the former house of Pompey in Rome, which later belonged to Marcus Antonius and Tiberius , among others . Through her mother, she is said to have been a great-granddaughter of Herodes Atticus .
After 214, Gordiana married a senator who bears the (probably also invented) name Iunius Balbus in the Historia Augusta and is said to have died before 238. In that year, under pressure from the population, her 13-year-old son was elevated to Caesar by the Senate Emperors Pupienus and Balbinus and, after their murder (perhaps instigated by Gordiana) on July 29, Augustus .
In order to secure the favor of the Senate, the young emperor, whose maiden name is unknown, took the name Marcus Antonius Gordianus , which his grandfather and uncle had also borne. With the help of their former supporters, Gordiana was able to influence state affairs at the beginning of her son's reign.
In 241 Gordiana married her son to Furia Sabinia Tranquillina , the daughter of the Praetorian prefect Timesitheus , who thereby rose to become the de facto ruler of the empire. It is unclear whether and how long she survived her son, who died in the Orient, and what circumstances caused her to die.
swell
- Historia Augusta , Vita Gordiani I , 4.
Web links
- Descent list of Roman emperors (PDF; 42 kB)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Antonia Gordiana |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Maecia Faustina (fictional) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Daughter of the Roman emperor Gordian I and the mother of the emperor Gordian III. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 2nd century or 3rd century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 3rd century |