Legend has it that one day as Septimius Severus was traveling through Thrace, a young peasant came by and raced his horse barefoot. Upon inquiry, the young man also wrestled with seven of the Emperors' men and was still not tired. This poor boy was Maximin, born to barbarian parents who as Gibbens puts it "had a valor to match his strength". He rose through the ranks of the imperial army to become a tribune. Whereby he secured the highest title by the support of the army and the assassination of previous emperor.

During his reign, he spent most of his time in the frontiers with his army and never once ventured to Rome. Maximin had a stark hatred for the senators and noblemen who apparently mistreated him as a youth. The alienated senate soon declared him a public enemy and with the help of the Praetorian Guard elected Gordian the elder as the new emperor. Gordian however, committed suicide when he heard his son had died fighting in North Africa. Another senator named Maximus convinced the senate that he and fellow senator, Balbinus should succeed Gordian. Hearing this news, Maximin made preparations to invade Italy but his plans where delayed as he had to fight the barbarians along the border. Maximus who was in charge of the military affairs, knew that he could not compete with Maximin's veteran army. Instead, he made preparations for a long siege of all the major cities in Maximin's way. The following spring, his plans succeeded as Maximin was killed by his own soldiers during the siege of Aquileia. Apparently, the soldiers where at the point of starvation and seeked a truce so that they could enter the city. In the mean time, a kind of civil war had broken out between the senate and the Praetorian Guard in Rome. Balbinus failed to stop the hostilities and in the end the soldiers killed both of the emperors and declared Gordian III as the new ruler.