One of the more popular Emperors in Roman history due to his family ties, this teenager reigned but a brief time. Literate and learned, he inherited a library of 60,000 manuscripts from his martyred family. Books published in modern times are priced like ordinary commodities. Where ancient texts are concerned, however, it is quite a different matter. In many instances, historians writing the history of the ancient world have been forced to rely upon a few sources or even a single one, and these sources vary a great deal in accuracy. Therefore, a single significant new text from Plato or Aristotle, for incidence, could be worth many millions of dollars. Gordian the Third's library, if discovered intact and containing important texts, could exceed the value of any single treasure--diamond or work of art--in the world. The value would be priceless, and any self-respecting government in the world would want to have its secrets. Men are curious about their ancestors.
Ancient observers should have foreseen the doom approaching the Roman Empire, because there were many signs as the Empire continued its long and steady decline. Someone with foresight may have taken measures to preserve for posterity the literature of the age within a time capsule, much the same as later generations have done. There may be coffers filled with manuscripts hidden in the dry and preserving climate of Egypt. Maybe one day such a capsule will be unearthed and rock the academic world. But beware of frauds.
As for the young Emperor Gordian III, he met his doom at the age of nineteen in a war waged in what is now Iraq.
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