Commodus: Difference between revisions

== Biography ==

=== Early life ===

On the 27th  November 176, Marcus Aurelius conferred on Commodus the rank of Imperator, and in 177, the title of Augustus, giving his son the same position as him and sharing power with him. On the 23rd December of the same year, he obtained the tribunicia potestas. On the st1 January 177, Commodus became consul for the first time, at the age of 15, the youngest consul in Roman history up to that time. He then married Bruzia Crispina.

After a new series of decisive victories in the years 178-179 against Marcomanni and Quadi, his father, Marcus Aurelius, fell seriously ill in 180, perhaps also struck by the plague that had plagued the empire for years. Marcus Aurelius died on the 17th March 180, at about fifty-nine, according to Aurelio Vittore in the city-encampment of Vindobona (current Vienna).

==== Marcomannic Wars ====

He began his reign with an unfavorable peace treaty agreed with the tribes of the Germans, who had been at war with Marcus Aurelius. Later he himself waged wars against the Germans, often winning partial victories, for which he also demanded honors from the Senate.  

==== Career as a gladiator ====

=== Death ===

Faced with the growing discontent with Commodus' excesses, the prefect of the Praetorium Quintus Emilio Leto and the cubicularius Ecletto, fearing for their own lives after opposing the latest extravagances of the emperor and being placed on a ban list, organized a conspiracy with Cassio Dione and numerous other senators. The concubine Marcia, a favorite of Commodus, was soon involved, so that she was able to poison him in order to kill him secretly.

The attack was carried out on the 31st December 192, during a banquet his wine was poisoned. The emperor, however, believing he felt weighed down by the lavish meal, retired to his apartments and asked the servants to help him vomit, thus saving himself unwittingly. At that point, having failed the poisoning and fearing that they could soon be discovered, the conspirators turned to the champion of gladiators Narcisso, the emperor's personal instructor, giving him a sword. The gladiator, driven by the promise of a rich reward and personal revenge for being placed on a ban list, killed Commodus that same evening in the baths, perhaps by strangling or stabbing him.  

=== Personality ===

Commodus was cruel and arbitrary like [[Caligula]] and [[Emperor Nero|Nero]]. And just like them, he was sadists and his attitude can be associeted with sociopathic manner. Also, he was, like any average roman emperor, a megalomaniac and extremely egocentric, since he tried to make Rome and everything else something focused on him.

His sexual desires were described as completely insane and extravagant.

== Trivia ==

* He is cited in the song of Franco Battiato "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", that cames from one of the poems of  Manlio Sgalambro.

* One of the most famous impersonation of Commodus in fiction is the one in the movie "Gladiator" (2000), as he is portrayed by Jacquin Phoenix.

[[Category:Roman Time Villains]]

[[Category:Male]]

[[Category:Deceased]]

[[Category:Monarchs]]

[[Category:Fighter]]

[[Category:Tyrants]]

[[Category:Athletic]]

[[Category:Murderer]]

[[Category:Sadists]]

[[Category:Mentally Ill]]

[[Category:God Wannabe]]

[[Category:Egotist]]

[[Category:Barbarians]]

[[Category:Power Hungry]]

[[Category:Homicidal]]

[[Category:Perverts]]

[[Category:Extravagant]]

[[Category:Family of Victim]]

[[Category:Family of Hero]]