[30] Popular rumors spread alleging he was actually the son, not of Marcus Aurelius, but of a gladiator whom his mother Faustina had taken as a lover at the coastal resort of Caieta.[31]. A new Commodus emerged, one that saw himself as a reborn Hercules who appeared in public wearing a cloak made out of the hide of a lion over his head (a reference to the Nemean Lion of Hercules’s Twelve Labors). Marcus and Lucius together appointed Commodus Caesar, official heir to the throne, along with his younger brother, Marcus Annius Verus, on 12th October 166, when Commodus was a child aged five years old. The fall of Perennis brought a new spate of executions: Aufidius Victorinus committed suicide. The historian Herodian, a contemporary, described Commodus as an extremely handsome man. [38] On another occasion, Commodus killed three elephants on the floor of the arena by himself. 1983) 123. Pompeianus retired from public life. Often, wounded soldiers and amputees would be placed in the arena for Commodus to slay with a sword.
On 12 October 166, Commodus was made Caesar together with his younger brother, Marcus Annius Verus. He also had the head of the Colossus of Nero adjacent to the Colosseum replaced with his own portrait, gave it a club, and placed a bronze lion at its feet to make it look like Hercules Romanus, and added an inscription boasting of being "the only left-handed fighter to conquer twelve times one thousand men".[18].
He was made the youngest consul in Roman history in 177 and elevated to co-augustus with his father, having been given the title imperator in 176. Nevertheless, though the senatorial order came to hate and fear him, the evidence suggests that he remained popular with the army and the common people for much of his reign, not least because of his lavish shows of largesse (recorded on his coinage) and because he staged and took part in spectacular gladiatorial combats. He was born in Alba Pompeia in Italy,[2] the son of freedman Helvius Successus.
Displeasure in his rule mounted, and in 182 his sister Lucilla joined in a conspiracy to have him killed, but it failed.
After Cleander's death, Commodus began to broadcast his superhuman status, fighting in the arena as a gladiator dressed as the hero demi-god Hercules. One such notable event was the attempted extermination of the house of the Quinctilii. [28] The Romans found Commodus' gladiatorial combats to be scandalous and disgraceful. He would be the first emperor born while his father was the emperor and the last to inherit the throne as the previous five emperors (including Marcus) had obtained the throne through adoption. In 190 CE a grain supply shortage would bring him down.
Disdaining the more philosophic inclinations of his father, Commodus was extremely proud of his physical prowess. Born the son of a freed slave, Pertinax became an officer in the army. The Emperor Commodus Leaving the Arena at the Head of the Gladiators (detail) by Edwin Howland Blashfield (1848–1936), Hermitage Museum and Gardens, Norfolk, Virginia. The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. [21] Another event—as recorded by the historian Aelius Lampridius—took place at the Roman baths at Terme Taurine, where the emperor had an attendant thrown into an oven after he found his bathwater to be lukewarm. It was during the reign of Marcus Aurelius that the Marcomannic War broke out at the northern frontier of the empire. At the urging of his mistress Marcia, Commodus had Cleander beheaded and his son killed. By 191 he appeared to be dangerously deranged, obsessively performing in the arena dressed as Hercules. He accompanied his father, Marcus, during the Marcomannic Wars in 172 and on a tour of the Eastern provinces in 176. As he was physically strong, his chief interest was in sport: he took part in horse racing, chariot racing, and combats with beasts and men, mostly in private but also on occasion in public. Wasson, Donald L. Emperor Commodus (160–192) dressed as Hercules. His great simplicity, however, together with his cowardice, made him the slave of his companions, and it was through them that he at first, out of ignorance, missed the better life and then was led on into lustful and cruel habits, which soon became second nature."[20]. Historia Augusta. Harvard University Press, 1961, 73.10.3, Dio Cassius 73.20.3, Loeb edition translated E. Cary, Gibbon p.. 106 "disgorged at once a hundred lions; a hundred darts". – Historia Augusta Bd. Commodus was Roman emperor from 180 to 192 CE. Commodus remained with the Danube armies for only a short time before negotiating a peace treaty with the Danubian tribes. Other victims at this time were the praetorian prefect Julius Julianus, Commodus's cousin Annia Fundania Faustina, and his brother-in-law Mamertinus. Cleander took power into his own hands and enriched himself by selling public offices: he sold and gave entry to the Senate, army commands, governorships, and even replacement consulships, to the highest bidder. [29] According to Herodian, spectators of Commodus thought it unbecoming of an emperor to take up arms in the amphitheater for sport when he could be campaigning against barbarians among other opponents of Rome. Gibbon p. 107 "*1 Commodus killed a camelopardalis or giraffe ... the most useless of the quadrupeds". These tendencies now increased to megalomaniacal proportions. [33] Privately, it was also his custom to kill his opponents during practice matches. In the view of Dio Cassius, his accession marked the descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust".[13].
[20][21] He reformed the Roman currency dramatically, increasing the silver purity of the denarius from 74% to 87% – the actual silver weight increasing from 2.22 grams to 2.75 grams. Thank you!
These tendencies now increased to megalomaniacal proportions. Muller Edition 1.15.7, Echols, Edward C. "Herodian of Antioch's History of the Roman Empire." Commodus remained with the Danube armies for only a short time before negotiating a peace treaty with the Danubian tribes. According to Dio Cassius, Perennis, though ruthless and ambitious, was not personally corrupt and generally administered the state well.[16]. He left the running of the state to a succession of favourites, beginning at this time with Saoterus, a freedman from Nicomedia who had become his chamberlain. Commodus was succeeded by Pertinax, whose reign was short-lived; he would become the first claimant to be usurped during the Year of the Five Emperors. In November 192, Commodus held Plebeian Games, in which he shot hundreds of animals with arrows and javelins every morning, and fought as a gladiator every afternoon, winning all the fights. At the age of 15, Commodus received the title of imperium and tribunicia potestas positions. The Roman Emperors (1985) p. 99. Statues of Commodus were demolished. Italics indicates a junior co-emperor, while underlining indicates a usurper. 1, eingeleitet und übersetzt von E. Hohl, bearbeitet und übersetzt von E. Merten (1976) 138. In opposition to the Senate, in his pronouncements and iconography, Commodus had always stressed his unique status as a source of god-like power, liberality, and physical prowess. Publius Domitius Calvisius Tullus Ruso, Imperator Caesar Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Augustus (177, 191–192), Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus (180–191), Commodus is a minor antagonist in the 2005 video game, dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships, G. Alföldy, "Der Friedesschluss des Kaisers Commodus mit den Germanen,", P. A. Brunt, "The Fall of Perennis: Dio-Xiphilinus 79.9.2,", J. Gagé, "La mystique imperiale et l'épreuve des jeux. He is thought to have been one of those who plotted the death of Commodus who was hurried to the Praetorian camp after the assassination and pronounced Emperor. – E. Mer-ten, Bäder und Badegepflogenheiten in der Darstel-lung der Historia Augusta (Antiquitas. [citation needed] On 27 November 176, Marcus Aurelius granted Commodus the rank of Imperator and, in the middle of 177, the title Augustus, giving his son the same status as his own and formally sharing power.
Lucilla believed she and her husband Lucius Verus had been passed over by Marcus Aurelius as potential heirs to the throne. Commodus was given the title of Caesar in 166—this would establish him as Marcus' successor at the age of eight. [16][note 1] His short reign (86 days) was an uneasy one. [33] Privately, it was also his custom to kill his opponents during practice matches. His historical reputation has largely been a positive one, in line with Cassius Dio's assessment. After repeated attempts on Commodus' life, Roman citizens were often killed for making him angry. 16. Muller Edition 1.15.7, Echols, Edward C. "Herodian of Antioch's History of the Roman Empire." Discussing the importance of a prince not being hated, Machiavelli provides Pertinax as an example of how it is as easy for a ruler to be hated for good actions as for bad ones. There was a coup d'etat when rumors about Marcus' death arose, and the governor of Syria Avidius Cassius proclaimed himself emperor. Herodian's Roman History F.L.
She was banished and the co-conspirators were executed. The Emperor and his son then traveled to Athens, where they were initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. In the arena, Commodus' opponents always submitted to the emperor; as a result he never lost. Commodus took the loss of Saoterus badly, and Perennis now seized the chance to advance himself by implicating Paternus in a second conspiracy, one apparently led by Publius Salvius Julianus, who was the son of the jurist Salvius Julianus and was betrothed to Paternus' daughter. The plot was carried out by the Praetorian prefect Quintus Aemilius Laetus, Commodus' mistress Marcia, and his chamberlain Eclectus. Everything was for sale - senatorial seats as well as governorships, and, of course, a portion of the money went to Commodus. They then returned to Rome in the autumn of 176. During 191, the city of Rome was extensively damaged by a fire that raged for several days, during which many public buildings including the Temple of Pax, the Temple of Vesta and parts of the imperial palace were destroyed. He thought of himself as the reincarnation of Hercules, frequently emulating the legendary hero's feats by appearing in the arena to fight a variety of wild animals. Innumerable statues around the empire were set up portraying him in the guise of Hercules, reinforcing the image of him as a demigod, a physical giant, a protector, and a warrior who fought against men and beasts (see "Commodus and Hercules" and "Commodus the Gladiator" below). He demanded that the Senate name him semi-divine and they agreed, possibly because numerous senators had been executed in exceedingly gory fashion. Upon his death, the Senate declared him a public enemy (a de facto damnatio memoriae) and restored the original name of the city of Rome and its institutions. On 15 October 184 at the Capitoline Games, a Cynic philosopher publicly denounced Perennis before Commodus. Because he considered himself the new founder, he renamed Rome Colonia Lucia Annia Commodiana; the people became known as Commodiani. [2] In 175, he received the honor of a suffect consulship[8] and until 185, Pertinax was governor of the provinces of Upper and Lower Moesia, Dacia, Syria and finally governor of Britain. [24] The plot was betrayed; Falco himself was pardoned but several of the officers behind the coup were executed. Commodus' sanity began to unravel when a close advocate, Cleander, was assassinated, which put Commodus in fear for his life.
The reign of Marcus Aurelius had been marked by almost continuous warfare, even though he preferred books to war.
[5] He was the son of the reigning emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and Aurelius's first cousin, Faustina the Younger, the youngest daughter of Emperor Antoninus Pius, who had died only a few months before.
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