Roman emperor for three weeks in March to April 238.

Gordian was an elderly senator with a taste for literature. The Greek writer Flavius Philostratus (Philostratus, Flavius) dedicated his Lives of the Sophists to him. Early in 238, when Gordian was proconsul in Africa, a group of wealthy young landowners resisted and killed the tax collectors who had been sent to Africa by the emperor Maximinus (reigned 235–238). The insurgents proclaimed Gordian emperor, and the Senate recognized him. Gordian killed himself upon learning of the death of his son and coruler, Gordian II, in a battle against the governor of Numidia, Capelianus. Gordian's rule of only a few weeks had drawn the Senate to oppose Maximinus, and they continued the war against him with new emperors, Balbinus and Pupienus (Pupienus Maximus).