Debrowa considers that he "was probably the first representative of his family in the Roman senate", making him a novus homo.
[2] Professor Edward Champlin included him as a member of "a Cirtan community at Rome" he infers existed there, whose members included: Quintus Lollius Urbicus, consul in either 135 or 136; Gaius Arrius Antoninus, consul c. 170; and the rhetorician Fronto.
As a member of the vigintiviri, a preliminary and required first step toward gaining entry into the Roman Senate, Marcianus was allocated to the tresviri capitalis, which was not a prestigious office.
He was commissioned as commander of a collection of vexillations from Pannonia that was sent to the Parthian front, and showed he was successful as legate of Legio X Gemina.
This is unusual, since Macedonia was considered a province whose administration was allocated to senators before they achieved the consulship.