The statue of Emperor Gordian III was erected by the city authorities in Augusta Traiana during the tenure of the provincial governor Lucius Cattius Celer, ca. AD 238-241. Cattius Celer is attested as governor of Thrace on several milestones erected by the cities of Philippopolis (IGBulg 1069, IGBulg 1337, IGBulg 1375, and Telamon III-6) and Serdica (IGBulg 2000 and IGBulg 2016). In AD 242, after the end of his tenure in Thrace, he is attested as governor of the province of Moesia Superior (see IMS III.2, 22 and AE 1998, 1117).
The first archon of Augusta Traiana Aurelius Quintus son of Quintus has not been attested elsewhere. His gentilicium Aurelius indicates Roman citizenship granted with the Constitutio Antoniniana of AD 212; before that date, both he and his father used the Roman praenomen Quintus as a single name.