If the name Commodus vocalize conversant , it ’s probably from the Oscar - winning 2000 film " prizefighter " star Russell Crowe . In the movie , the nefarious emperor moth , played with despicable panache by Joaquin Phoenix , is based on a real - life Roman emperor named Commodus ( 161 - 192 C.E. ) who one ancient historiancalled"a greater cuss to the Romans than any pestilence or any crime . "
Thelurid storiestold about Commodus ’s quenchless appetite for sexuality and violence — that he had 600 concubines consisting of young womanhood and boys , that he slaughtered loads of men and exotic animal in gladiatorial battue , and that he rubbed his skin and fuzz with the blood of his victims — should be taken with a metric grain of salt , says Barry Strauss , a classicist and military historiographer at Cornell University , and writer of " Ten Caesars : Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine . "
" The ancient sources are full of malicious gossip about all the emperors , " says Strauss , except for Marcus Aurelius , Commodus ’s begetter and predecessor as emperor . " The source were written either by senators or by people who made their life being pay by senator . Marcus Aurelius was the most kind to the senate , so he father good military press . Commodus was just the opposite ; he obliterate a luck of senators , so of course they pan him . "
Like Father, Not Like Son
Commodus ’s fatherMarcus Aureliuswas a virtuously upright and beloved emperor who ruled Rome through a annihilating plague epidemic and sempiternal frontier warfare against invade Germanic tribes . Marcus Aurelius also penned " Meditations , " a philosophical memoir that stay a Greco-Roman ofStoicphilosophy .
Commodus was Marcus Aurelius ’s only surviving Logos and was hand - blame to succeed his father as emperor . When Commodus was 15 , hisfather named him as carbon monoxide gas - emperor , and at 17 Commodus joined his founder at the frontier encampments where Marcus Aurelius was leading Roman troop to battle .
What was teen Commodus like ? The only clues that we have to go by are from ahistory of Romewritten by Cassius Dio ( 135 - 235 C.E. ) , a senator and historian who was no fan of Commodus and may have exaggerated some of his geological fault . He draw young Commodus as a clueless Noel Coward who fell in with the haywire bunch .
Commodus was crowned emperor moth at 19 , when Marcus Aurelius died , believably from the plague . Unlike his father , who fought indefatigably against the Germanic folk , Commodus instantly struck peace accords and made a beeline for Rome , enunciate Cassius Dio , " for he hat all exertion and craved the comfortable biography of the urban center . "
Commodus as Killing Machine and Gladiator
Back in Rome , Commodus systematically killed all perceive foe in the Senate , as well as anyone else who seem to have the riches and renown to overturn him , againaccording to Cassius Dio . " I should render my story very tiresome were I to give a detailed report of all the persons put to death by Commodus , " writes the historian .
Commodus was n’t really into the day-after-day grind of governing , either , accord to Cassius Dio . He left that unpopular work to a serial of military leaders , including Perennis , commander of the emperor ’s Praetorian Guard .
" For , inasmuch as Commodus had given himself up to chariot - racing and dissipation and performed scarcely any of the duty pertaining to his office , Perennis was compelled to manage not only the military affairs , but everything else as well , and to stand at the head of the State , " writes Cassius Dio , adding that Perennis ’s soldier finally revolted , killing him and his family .
Gladiatorial contestswere big amusement in ancient Rome and Commodus , like other emperors , acknowledge how to stage a spectacle . But Commodus went a step further — he dress up up like a gladiator and fought in the contest himself .
" It was kind of scandalous , " says Strauss , because emperors were suppose to be above the radical violence of the gladiatorial ring , but Commodus project himself the multitude ’s champion and a skillful fighter .
fit in to Cassius Dio , Commodus would warm up by slaughtering domesticated animals that were brought to him rope or in cyberspace . Then he ’d move on to wild animals like bear , tigers , river horse and elephant that he would discharge from a safe distance with spears and javelins .
As for fighting people , Commodus did n’t fight to the destruction in public . He ’d compete with a wooden sword against other jock and gladiators , collecting a good-looking nub of a million sesterces a day from the gladiatorial fund , write Cassius Dio , adding that Commodus"of course"won all these sparring lucifer ( insert Dio ’s optic roll ) .
When it derive to the real gladiatorial contests , Commodus like bloodshed . One time , some victorious gladiators hesitated to stop off their antagonist , so Commodus limit them all together and forced them to fight to the expiry , according to Cassius Dio .
He also observe that the senator were compelled to attend all of these spectacle and even to cheer on Commodus with written chants , admit this mouthful:“Thou art lord and thou artistic production first , of all men most fortunate . winner G artistry , and winner thou shalt be ; from everlasting , Amazonian , thou art victor . "
Commodus as Megalomaniac
Commodus certainly did n’t meet from a want of assurance . Strauss say that Commodus called himself the " Roman Hercules " and even clothe the part in a full Leo ’s cutis and club , as shown in thisrare last sculpture of Commodusfrom the second C .
In one particularly wrench gladiatorial bout , Commodus wanted to reenact the story ofHercules defeating the giants , so he gathered all of the men of Rome who had fall back their feet to disease or fortuity , " and then , after secure about their knees some likeness of serpents ' soundbox , and give them sponges to throw instead of stones , had killed them with blows of a club , feign that they were goliath , " write Cassius Dio .
Commodus also rename things after himself . And not pocket-sized thing , either .
" He rename Rome asColonia Commodianaor Commodus City , " says Strauss . " He also renamed the month of the twelvemonth after various name that he give himself , " like Amazonius , Augustus and Herculeus .
When Commodus sent messages to the senate , writes Cassius Dio , this is how they all began :
Strauss oppugn the veracity of Cassius Dio ’s reports , but he admit that Commodus was n’t the first Roman emperor to have megalomanic tendency or to act like a tyrant . It ’s the gossamer level of Commodus ’s tomfoolery that place upright out .
The End of Commodus
A gentleman’s gentleman like Commodus makes a lot of enemies , and during his 12 - year sovereignty , Commodus survived legion blackwash attempts , let in one plotted by his sister ( whom he carry through ) . But fate finally caught up to Commodus on New Year ’s Eve in the year 192 C.E. , when he was strangled in his bathing tub by his wrestling collaborator .
" Cruellest of all , his favorite fancy woman Marcia was in on the plot of ground , " says Strauss , who just fetch up a Holy Writ about another ancient big businessman couple call " The War That Made the Roman Empire : Antony , Cleopatra , and Octavian at Actium . "
The reign of Commodus is sometimes pegged as the beginning of the death of the Roman Empire , but Strauss discord . While it ’s genuine that his death was followed by a bally and protracted civil war , it ended with the establishment of the Severan Dynasty , a running game of ethnically diverse emperor moth hailing from North Africa , Syria and other corners of the Roman Empire .
" Commodus did n’t do that on purpose ; it fall out because he was a failure , " say Strauss . " But out of the chaos that was his sovereignty , not everything that happened was high-risk . "
HowStuffWorks earns a small affiliate mission when you buy through links on our website .
