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Tranquillina – Roman Empress – Wife of Gordian III, Emperor 241-244 A.D.
Bronze 21mm (6.82 grams) of Caesarea in Cappadocia, 244 A.D.
Reference: Sear GIC 3864; B.M.C. 20.93,350; Sydenham, Caesarea 618
CAB. TRANKVΛΛINA, Draped bust right.
MHTP. KAI. B. N[Є]. ЄT Z. (= regnal year 7 of Gordian = A.D. 244), Six ears of corn bound together.
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 Mount Erciyes( Mons Argaeus in ancient times) is a massive stratovolcano located 25 km south of Kayseri , Turkey . Erciyes is the highest mountain in central Anatolia (3,916 metres). The volcano is heavily eroded, but may have erupted as recently as 253 BC , as may be depicted on Roman era coins. Strabo wrote that in his time the summit was never free from snow and that those few who ascended it could see both the Black Sea and the Mediterranean .
Kayseri (Ottoman Turkish: قیصریه; Greek : Καισάρεια/Kaisareia; Latin : Caesarea Mazaca), named in classical antiquity as Mazaka or Mazaca, Eusebia, Caesarea Cappadociae, and later as Kaisariyah, is a large and industrialized city in Central Anatolia , Turkey . It is the seat of Kayseri Province .
Kayseri has been a continuous settlement since 3000 BC. The city has always been a vital trade center since it is located on major trade routes, particularly along what was called the Great Silk Road . Kültepe , one of the oldest cities in Asia Minor , lies nearby.
As Mazaca, the city served as the residence of the kings of Cappadocia . In ancient times, it was on the crossroads of the trade routes from Sinope to the Euphrates and from the Persian Royal Road that extended from Sardis to Susa. In Roman times, a similar route from Ephesus to the East also crossed the city.
The city’s name was changed to Eusebia in honor of the Cappadocian king Ariathes V (163–130 BC). The name was changed again to Caesarea by the last Cappadocian King Archelaus or perhaps by Tiberius .
Caesarea stood on a low spur on the north side of Mount Erciyes (Mons Argaeus in ancient times). The site, now called the old town, diplays only a few traces from the old town. It was destroyed by the Sassanid king Shapur I of Persia after his victory over the Emperor Valerian I in AD 260. At the time it was recorded to have around 400,000 inhabitants. In the 4th century, bishop Basil established an ecclesiastical centre on the plain, about one mile to the northeast, which gradually supplanted the old town. A portion of Basil’s new city was surrounded with strong walls and turned into a fortress by Justinian .
Furia Sabinia Tranquillina or Sabinia Tranquillina (ca 225 – aft. 244) was the Empress of Rome and wife of Emperor Gordian III . She was the young daughter of the Praetorian Prefect Timesitheus by an unknown wife.
 In 241 her father was appointed the head of the Praetorian Guard by the Roman Emperor Gordian III . In May that year, Tranquillina had married Gordian. She became a Roman Empress and received the honorific title of Augusta. Her marriage to Gordian was an admission by the young emperor of both political indispensability of Timesitheus and Tranquillina’s suitability as an empress.
In 243, Tranquillina’s father suddenly died and was replaced with Philip the Arab , as head of the Praetorian Guard . When Gordian was killed in February 244, Philip became the new emperor. Tranquillina survived her husband. She had no sons with him. Christian Settipani suggests that they had a daughter, (Furia) (b. ca 244), most likely posthumous, who married (Marcus Maecius Orfitus) (b. ca 245), son of Marcus Maecius Probus (b. ca 220), married to Pupiena Sextia Paulina Cethegilla (b. ca 225), paternal grandson of Marcus Pomponius Maecius Probus and maternal grandson of Marcus Pupienus Africanus (son of his protector Emperor Pupienus Maximus ) and wife Cornelia Marullina, by whom she had issue.
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