GORDIAN III (Marcus Antonius Gordianus), ROMAN EMPEROR. - Born in Rome on 20 December 224 to Junius Balbus and Meccia Faustina, died in Syria near Circassus in February or March 244. He was emperor from 238 to 244. After the deaths in Africa of his uncle Gordian II and his grandfather Gordian I in 238, he was acclaimed emperor by the soldiers and people of Rome against the Senate, which had invested Pupienus and Balbinus with power; they were soon killed.
In 241 he married Fulvia Sabinia Tranquillina, daughter of the praetorian prefect Timesitheus, whom G. elevated to the rank of praetorian prefect, thereby becoming the effective master of the Empire. With him, the following year, G. went to fight the Persians in Syria. But while the imperial armies were triumphing, reconquering Antioch, Carrhae, and Nisibis, Timesitheus died in 243, thus changing the fate of the young G., since the new praetorian prefect, Philip the Arab, who aspired to the Empire, stirred up the soldiers against him and had him killed in the early months of 244. During G.’s reign the Church enjoyed a period of peace, which continued under his successor Philip the Arab, perhaps indicating a changed direction in domestic policy, though it lasted only briefly.