Gordian's Assassination

The cause of gordian's death remains unknown to this day. The romans themselves believe that philip assassinated the young emperor, and i am going to stick with that interpretation. There is a very low likelihood that cover up defeat or no gordian would have been anywhere near a battlefield at that point in his career. So at the end of the day, we have to simply accept the fact that gordian died, and philip became emperor, and that he then reigned for five years.