Timesitheus, while is planning more campaigns, suddenly becomes ill and dies, preventing Gordian from further exploiting his success.

Gordian, his mother and Tranquillina are saddened by his death.

Little is known about the early life and political career of Philip the Arab, who had been born in what is today Shahba, about fifty-five miles (eighty-nine kilometers) southeast of Damascus, in the Trachonitis district, then in the Roman province of Arabia.

Having received the nickname "the Arab" because his family hails from the Roman province of Arabia, Philip is the son of a Julius Marinus, a local Roman citizen, possibly of some importance.

The name of Philip's mother is unknown, but sources refer to a brother, Gaius Julius Priscus, a member of the Praetorian guard under Gordian III.

In 234, Philip had married Marcia Otacilia Severa, daughter of a Roman Governor.

They have at least one child, a son named Marcus Julius Philippus Severus (Philippus II), born in 238.

Philip’s rise to prominence had begun through the intervention of his brother Priscus, an important official under Gordian.

At the suggestion of Priscus, Philip becomes the new Praetorian prefect, with the intention that the two brothers will control the young Emperor and rule the Roman world as unofficial regents.