that Herodian was about 70 years of age when this was written and that the actions did indeed occur during his lifetime. However, it is possible that his history was composed at a later date. Herodian's descriptions of Gordian III are less than flattering, and it is doubtful that he released such a negative review of a current emperor. Following this logic, his history was finished in 244 at the earliest, when Gordian III died. In his first and third books, Herodian mentions the games of Commodus in 192, and the Secular Games of Septimius Severus in 204. If Herodian attended the games of Commodus, he had been at least 14 at the time, which is to say that he was born in 178 at the latest. The nationality of Herodian is also unclear. He was not from Italy, for he says the Alps were bigger than anything “in our part of the world.” (2.11.8) It has been suggested that Herodian was from Alexandria since he placed such a large emphasis on Caracalla's massacre of this city and its inhabitants. It is also believed that he could have possibly been an eyewitness to these attacks. Herodian does refer to Alexandria as the second city of the empire; however, this may be disregarded since he also applies the same title to Antioch and Carthage. It has been proposed that Herodian was the son of Aelius Herodianus, an Alexandrian grammarian. Although this does fit chronologically, there is no other evidence to support it. The popular speculation, however, is that Herodian was from Antioch. Herodian describes the character of the Syrians as quick-witted and mentions them twice more. However, there are also gaps in Herodian's knowledge of Syrian affairs which lead one to believe that he might not have been from the region at all. For example, he confuses two Parthian kings, and his chronology and geography of the Parthian campaign in 197–198 are deeply flawed. These flaws could be explained with a lack of knowledge of a small part of the empire; however, one would assume that an inhabitant of Syria would have had access to this knowledge. In short, unless an inscription is discovered, Herodian's place of birth will never be known for certain. Occupation and social status Neither the occupation nor the social status of Herodian is known. Herodian mentions, “I have written a history of the events following the