Short answers, pulled from the story.
Herodian was a minor Roman civil servant and Greek-language historian who lived approximately from 170 to 240 AD. He wrote an eight-book history titled History of the Empire from Marcus Onwards, covering Roman imperial politics from the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 through 238. His work is notable as a first-person account of events he claimed to have witnessed during his imperial and public service.
Herodian's history spans the years 180 to 238 AD across eight books, covering the reigns of Commodus, the Year of the Five Emperors, Septimius Severus, Caracalla, Elagabalus, Severus Alexander, Maximinus Thrax, and the Year of the Six Emperors. It provides a first-person account of one of Rome's most politically turbulent periods and was most likely written for an eastern audience unfamiliar with Roman customs.
Herodian's birthplace remains unknown and is one of the most debated questions in scholarship about him. Three main hypotheses exist: Alexandria in Egypt, Syria (possibly Antioch), and Asia Minor. The Asia Minor hypothesis has become the most widely accepted since the mid-20th century, based on the accuracy and frequency of his references to cities in that region compared to errors in other parts of his history.
Herodian's reliability has been debated for centuries. He confuses Arabia Scenite with Arabia Felix, misidentifies the location of Darius III's final battle, and his chronology of the Parthian campaign of 197-198 is acknowledged as flawed. However, recent scholarship has tended to rehabilitate his factual record, and his account of Elagabalus is considered less biased than that of Cassius Dio. Both Zosimus and John of Antioch used him as a source.
Photius, the ninth-century patriarch of Constantinople, reviewed Herodian in his Codex 99 and described his prose as clear, vigorous, and agreeable. He wrote that Herodian neither exaggerated with hyperbole nor omitted anything essential, and declared that in all the virtues of historiography there were few men his superior.
Herodian's exact occupation is unknown. He wrote that he had a personal share in events during his imperial and public service but gave no specific title or rank. Scholars have proposed he may have been a senator, a freedman, or an apparitor serving as a scribe or imperial attendant. The apparitor theory is considered plausible because it would explain his knowledge of senatorial documents, his extensive travels, and his repeated focus on fiscal affairs.