Aemilian was born in the Roman province of Africa. According to the 4th century source Epitome de Caesaribus, he was born at Girba (modern Djerba, an island off the coast of Tunisia) and was a Moor;Epitome de Caesaribus, 31.1–2. a reference in the same source hints that he was born around 207.Epitome de Caesaribus, 31.3. The 12th-century historian Joannes Zonaras, who calls him a Libyan rather than a Moor,Joannes Zonaras, Epitome Historiarum, 12.21. and another chronicle of the 13th century hold that he was forty at the time of his death in 253.Joannes Zonaras, Epitome Historiarum, 12.22.
Aemilian was born in ,the Roman province of Africa. According to the 4th century source Epitome de Caesaribus, he was born at Girba (modern Djerba, an island off the coast of Tunisia) and was a Moor;Epitome de Caesaribus, 31.1–2. a reference in the same source hints that he was born around 207.Epitome de Caesaribus 31.3. The 12th-century historian Joannes Zonaras, who calls him a Libyan rather than a Moor,Joannes Zonaras, Epitome Historiarum, 12.21. and another chronicle of the 13th century hold that he was forty at the time of his death in 253.Joannes Zonaras, Epitome Historiarum, 12.22.