However, Timesitheus's praenomen and nomen (i.e. "Gaius" and "Furius Sabinius" respectively) indicate long-established Roman citizenship and a family that was well-integrated into the élite classes of the Empire although it is otherwise unknown.
[11] This service to the Severan dynasty might explain his continued rise under the regime of the "Syrian Princesses" who would certainly have been responsible for his appointment as Procurator in urbe Magister XX heredatium (collector of the one-twentieth - 5% - tax on inheritances in Rome), a post conferring ducenarius rank (salary 200.000ss/annum), and, at the same time, Logista Thymelae (Superintendent of the Imperial Theatre Properties).
That may well have been the main object of the Syrian Princesses in securing him these appointments - to move a man who had proved his loyalty to them into a position where he would be able to exert influence on their behalf in areas well beyond the limits of the job-descriptions pertaining to his specific offices.
As far as Timesitheus's career was concerned, his access to Imperial patronage as a palatinus, or courtier, would have effectively set him above less-favoured ducenarii officials in the competition for procuratorial postings; there followed two important appointments which were associated with the two major wars fought by Alexander Severus, first against the renascent Persian Empire (232 AD)[j] and then against the league of German Peoples who were to become known to the Romans as the Alemanni (234-5 AD)[k] in which Timesitheus's assorted military and procuratorial competencies would, perhaps, have been particularly useful to the regime.
While holding that office he was also made vice praesidis (Acting Governor) of Germania Inferior - the lower Roman Rhineland - in which capacity he commanded the two legions stationed in that province during Alexander Severus's German war.
(To make it possible for Timesitheus to be put in command of these legions while retaining his equestrian status was probably the main object of Julia Mammaea in securing him the procuratorial appointment: it provides yet further evidence of the trust she had in him.
That Timesitheus remained an equestrian when he might well have been adlected to the senate and, thus, been eligible to be appointed as the praetorian legatus of Lower Germany instead of just a vicar - i.e., one who acted on behalf of (vice) such an officer - was probably his choice.
As in his previous posting in Germania he was also appointed acting proconsul - i.e., governor of these provinces - thus replacing a senatorial appointee (this time of consular status) for whom that office would normally have been reserved.
Whatever reservations Maximinus Thrax may have entertained regarding Timesitheus's loyalties, his need for money to finance his German wars obviously did not allow him the luxury of foregoing the financial and administrative expertise the man could bring to his government of the Empire.
However, it may be indicative of the emperor's reservations that, whereas in Germany Timesitheus had commanded two legions, he now had none, Asia consisting of provinciae inermes - i.e., provinces where there were no Imperial troops permanently in garrison.
[17] The Lyons Inscription (already mentioned) refers to him as optimus patronus (i.e. Best of Patrons) which implies that when his term of office came to an end he returned to Rome as an ambassador representing the interests the Gallic provinces.
As already indicated, Timesitheus was much admired for his culture and learning - for which much could be forgiven in Roman Society - and his rhetorical prowess no doubt did much to restore his reputation and influence with senior courtiers and senators who were dominant in Imperial politics in the early years of the reign of Gordian III.
The only narrative source on his term of office is the Scriptores Historiae Augustae (SHA) and, as already noted, the author of the Vita Tres Gordiani could hardly have been more fulsome in singing his praises, both as the father-in-law of the young emperor and as the protector of the Empire.
This generous assessment is supported by two citations of supposed correspondence between Timesitheus and Gordian (probably invented) and a number of topoi familiarly used in Latin historiography to define a worthy servant of the state - i.e. a crackdown on sale of offices by members of the palatini,[q] care for the defence of the frontiers and exemplary behaviour in his capacity as commander of the Praetorian Guard.
His main concern as the Emperor's principal minister and adviser was in dealing with the threat to the oriental provinces posed by the renascent power of Persia under one of its most effective "Kings of Kings", Shapur I. Shapur's ambitions when he succeeded his father Ardashir in 240 were no doubt inflated by his initial successes, but there also seems no doubt that he was determined to: (i) secure strategic control of the minor states of eastern Mesopotamia that controlled access to Roman Syria across the eastern desert frontier west of the River Euphrates; and (ii) replace Rome as the hegemonic power in the Kingdom of Armenia.
[22] In the first two years of his prefecture, Timesitheus was not able to give his attention to the threat to Rome's territories in the east posed by Shapur, but in 242 he began to organise a response appropriate to the magnitude of the crisis.
[s] On arriving in the theatre of operations he seems to have mounted a highly successful campaign against the Persians in Mesopotamia, inflicting a crushing defeat on them at the Battle of Resaena (Ras-al Ayn, Syria).
[24] His death meant that Shapur never had to face a powerful, well-equipped Roman army, led by a first-class general and not distracted by other enemies (as in the case of Valerian in 260) until he encountered Odenathus of Palmyra.
The SHA asserts that Timesitheus was suffering from an attack of diarrhea and that Marcus Julius Philippus (Philip the Arab) succeeded in having his medication doctored, thus fatally inflaming the symptoms of his illness.
Whatever its cause, the death of Timesitheus put in motion a series of events that deprived the Roman Empire of what was probably its best chance of quashing the pretensions of the Persian monarchy before it became fully established.
Timesitheus's historical significance is that in the period when the provisions of Roman administrative law that formally reserved the government of key Imperial provinces for members of the Senatorial order were being increasingly set aside and specialists of equestrian rank brought to the fore, he was one of the foremost examples of the new type of functionary.
In his day such officials tended to be particularly expert in fiscal administration, reflecting the Imperial government's urgent need for additional revenues to support the cost of the army reforms introduced by Septimius Severus and Caracalla.
However, within a very short time, as the Crisis of the Third Century gathered momentum, the equestrian officers being appointed vice senatorial magistrates in regions at particular risk tended to be professional soldiers than those who had made their way in the procuratorial branches of the Imperial Service.