His work is not entirely reliable although his relatively unbiased account of Elagabalus is more useful than that of Cassius Dio. Herodian himself may have been a Syrian[1][2][3][4] (perhaps from Antioch) who appears to have lived for a considerable period of time in Rome, but possibly without holding any public office. From his extant work, we gather that he was still living at an advanced age during the reign of Gordianus III, who ascended the throne in 238.