Commodus - The Wildest Emperor in Rome's History

The Commodus Emperor is the one that caused the fall of the Roman Empire due to his corruption in handling the nation. Commodus believed that he is the incarnated version of the mythological hero, Hercules due to his traits that loved to battle in the gladiator.

He is also known to be vicious and merciless when encountering his opponent by ending their lives even if he knew that they can't fight any longer. Due to his obsession with killing, many Romans did not accept him as their emperor.

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Early Life of Commodus

Commodus at a young age

Commodus was born on 31 August 161 AD in the city of Lanuvium, 22.5km southeast of Rome. His father was the Roman emperor named Marcus Aurelius and his mother is the first cousin of Aurelius named Faustina the Younger.

Commodus happens to be the 10th child among his 14 siblings and originally he was born together with his twin named Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antonius. After Titus passed away when he was 4 years old, only Commodus survived.

A medical professional of Aurelius named Galen was assigned to take care of Commodus to make sure that he was always fit and healthy. If Commodus was ever to fall sick, he will be given medicine immediately to keep his body well.

Aside from being taken care of medically, Commodus was also given the best education and intense military training. He managed to graduate successfully and during his early livelihood, Commodus was seen to be worthy of being the great charismatic Rome emperor.

The interesting part about Commodus is that he was taken for adoption by four of the previous emperor before Aurelius to the extent that Commodus was called by the name Caesar at 5 years of age together with his brother Marcus Annius Verus.

After the death of Verus, Commodus became one of Aurelius' sons who was called Caesar. It was at this time that Aurelius was hungry for blood and wanted his bloodline to become the heir to the throne after the emperor passed away. He starts by appointing his own son as the war chief at a very young age.

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For years on as Commodus grew bigger, he was very sad with the way his father handles the government and he does not see him as the great emperor of Rome. There were rumors that Commodus is not the true son of Aurelius and instead from an affair of his father with another woman.

The rumors existed simply because of how much Commodus himself loved being in the gladiator. Despite being sad about the rumors, it has not stopped Aurelius from enhancing Commodus' skills to become the next ruler. On 27 November 176 AD, Aurelius appointed Commodus as an imperator which is a top position similar to a commander.

After several years as Commodus together with Aurelius ruled together side by side until it was an end for Aurelis in 180 AD. It was at this time that Commodus was the right heir to the throne and became the new emperor of Rome as well as the youngest consult in the history of Rome.

The Rule of Commodus

Denarius currency

Ever since the death of his father, Commodus has become the sole ruler. During his rule time, it seems that he is repeating the same mistakes that his father did and all the administration under him was inefficient. But then it was never the intention of Commodus to ever be the great ruler of Rome similar to his late father.

Commodus at first was involved in activities related to leadership and making peace on behalf of Rome. He also reduced the value of the currency Rome, denarius, and the pure value of silver.

In the early stage of his rule, he was very charismatic and responsible for keeping things at bay. But later on, Commodus became too obsessed with his hobby as a gladiator. According to the Roman historian, Dio Cassius, Commodus started to become uninterested in the world of politics at the fall of the Roman empire.

It was at this point in time that Commodus turned Rome from its golden age into its worst time ever in history. While Commodus was too busy with being the gladiator, the Romans sees him as someone shameful and not respecting the traditions of the gladiator.

Commodus simply did not care and felt arrogant by stating that he was the next incarnation of Hercules. Later he also wanted a sculpture of himself dressed as Hercules and even wanted his people to call him Hercules instead of Commodus.

Whenever Commodus was in the arena, most of his opponents will simply surrender just to save themselves. But unlike others, Commodus was known to be very vicious and claimed the lives of all his opponents despite training. 

On top of that, Commodus also order all the wounded and disabled soldiers to be in the arena for execution. All the disabled people with no limbs will be tied together so that Commodus can whip them repeatedly as they scream in agony to death.

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If that is not enough, Commodus was also known to be cruel to exotic animals as he killed lions, camels, rhinos, elephants, and even giraffes. Commodus's obsession with the gladiator has made all the Romans live in fear under his rule and was sick of his incompetence.

The End of Commodus Rule

Commodus dresses as Hercules

His wild behavior has led to the attempts of his assassination. On November 192, he held the Plebian games where he uses arrows and spears to hunt for wild animals wandering around in the morning. In the evening he will go to the gladiator arena.

It was until December of the same year that Commodus declared himself as an official gladiator on the new year of 1 January 193. This declaration sparked the anger of the Romans and the anti-Commodus group who started to make plans to kill the emperor.

The Commodus scandal named Marcia played a crucial role in the success of this assassination. At first, he poisoned the emperor by putting it in his food. But Commodus was too smart for that as he throw up the food.

The second attempt was when she asked Commodus' boxing partner, Narcissus to strangle Commodus when he was taking a bath. This attempt was a success and it finally ended the life of Commodus that was murdered similar to his past emperors.

The great story of Commodus was also kept by many historians as a reminder to everyone as to how the great emperor himself was too obsessed with the world of gladiators that he neglected his own people. This has caused the destruction of the Rome empire and it will teach us how history can also repeat itself.

Source: 

• Reese, M.R. 27 November 2021. Commodus: The Outrageous Emperor Who Fought as a Gladiator. Ancient Origins.

Also read: 5 History Of How Money Loses Its Value