(31 August 161 – 31 December 192)
Commodus: He may not be your favorite Roman emperor, but he is not the psycho depicted in the movie Gladiator, at least not entirely.
Let’s start with the most important point: the 2000 movie Gladiator is not the most accurate source for understanding Commodus' life story. It is a completely fictional movie that happens to use real historical figures, except for the main character Maximus, who is entirely made up. The reality was quite different from the movie. In reality, Commodus never tried to bang his sister (as far as we know), his father, Marcus Aurelius, never attempted to name a random guy as emperor of the entire Roman Empire, over his legitimate son, and Commodus did not kill his own father. He was indeed vicious, but in different ways. Unless Commodus' wife worked as a screenwriter for that movie, it makes no sense how the movie turned into a smear campaign against Commodus.
Early Life
Commodus was born on August 31, AD 161, in Lanuvium (a city close to Rome). He had an older brother named Marcus Annius Verus Caesar. He may not have had the best middle name; but he was a strong contender for the throne. However, he died at the early age of seven, just before he could mingle with his peers, get made fun of for his name, and experience a traumatic childhood. His death left Commodus as the sole heir.
His father was the emperor Marcus Aurelius, and his mother was Faustina the Younger. These two were actually first cousins, so their son’s story should have been better passed down as a cautionary tale about the dangers of incest.
Aurelius was truly beloved by the Roman people, and he was considered the last of the “Five Good Emperors” of the Roman Empire. He was a fierce commander on the battlefield, as shown by his battles with the Germanic tribes, and was also famous for being a stoic philosopher. In hindsight, maybe in addition to all the philosophy books, it would have been better if Marcus Aurelius had done some research on parenting so that his son would not have turned out to be such a disappointment and led the Roman Empire to decline.
The Emperor Duo
After his father’s death, Commodus was expected to become the first Roman emperor to be “born to the purple,” which was a great deal at the time. Until that point in the Roman Empire, it was unheard of for an emperor to turn over the family business to their child. Aurelius feared that this life could spoil his son, so he took him along to the battlefield to train him, starting in 172 during the Marcomannic Wars. From then on, Commodus' following years would be spent on battlefields, in his father’s endless wars against the Sarmatian and Germanic people.
In 175, there was an internal crisis where many thought Aurelius was dead, and his wife Faustina encouraged Avidius Cassius to seize the throne with her. However, the misunderstanding was quickly resolved. Cassius was killed by one of his centurions, Faustina died in an accident, and father and son resumed their campaigns as usual.
After an internship of five years on the battlefields outside Rome, Marcus Aurelius was finally convinced that he would choose his legitimate son, Commodus, as his successor. Therefore, on November 27, 176, Aurelius granted his son the rank of Imperator, and half a year later, in 177, the title Augustus (an ancient Roman honorific title). Essentially, this made Commodus a coworker to Aurelius as an emperor.
On January 1, 177, Commodus became consul at the age of 15, making him the youngest consul in Roman history at that time. In 178, he married Bruttia Crispina.
On March 17, 180, Emperor Aurelius died during a campaign in Vindobona (modern-day Vienna). After his death, Commodus became the sole emperor at the age of eighteen, which might have also drawn the jealousy of his peers who were still jerking around.
Pursuit of a Solo Career as an Emperor
Separating from his duo band, Commodus stepped into life as a solo emperor. Believing in the virtues of rebranding himself, he changed his name to “Caesar Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus.” (Good thing that in ancient Rome, filling out forms and applications was not a common practice because they would take such a long time with that name.)
Commodus, bored with the expat life and skirmishing with Barbarians and stuff, finally wanted to return to Rome. So, he hastily forged a peace treaty with the Germanic tribes and concluded the Marcomannic Wars, which had lasted almost 18 years.
Right after his accession, Commodus devalued the Roman currency. Without the constraints of a system like Bretton Woods, he literally devalued the currency by reducing the weight of the denarius, the Roman silver coin.
Commodus inherited a relatively stable realm from his father, due to Marcus Aurelius' success as an emperor. Aurelius set the bar for emperorship very high. Perhaps too high that Commodus likely knew he would never beat that standard, so he may have decided not to even try to be a good emperor and compete with his father’s legacy. Consequently, he never bothered himself with day-to-day administration. He delegated his tasks to a freedman he knew from childhood, Saoterus. Thus, he wasn't really in charge of running the empire, which can be understood given the fact that he was busy with his 300 concubines. (The number might be a tribute to the 300 courageous Spartans who defended Thermopylae, but of course not.)
Discontent with the Solo Performance
Like Nero, Commodus began his reign with the love of the people initially, but things soon took a different turn. At first, he was endeared by the Roman populace, though not by everyone. Several attempts were made to assassinate Commodus.
Commodus led a lavish life and, to fund it, he began demanding arbitrary taxes from the senatorial elite. It didn't take long for the elites to grow disgruntled with his rule. In AD 182, led by his sister Lucilla, a group of elites conspired to kill Commodus. During the assassination attempt, the assassin made the classic villain mistake: delivering a passionate and dramatic monologue before executing the deed. As a result, he ended up being the one who was stabbed. After those involved in the assassination plot were discovered, Lucilla and her co-conspirators were executed. Following this, Commodus' chamberlain Saoterus was murdered, which deeply affected Commodus as he considered Saoterus one of his best friends and confidants. Commodus later appointed another freedman and childhood friend, Cleander, to Saoterus’ position.
These incidents worsened Commodus' predisposition for paranoia. But let's face it, if you were a Roman emperor, paranoia would be your shield. So, his fears were not unfounded. Later, Commodus would discover that Cleander was behind Saoterus' death.
Cleander’s Governance
Seizing the opportunity presented by Commodus' absence from administration, Cleander usurped control for himself. He amassed wealth through the sale of public offices and senatorial seats, corrupting the integrity of the Senate.
In 190, during Cleander's tenure overseeing grain supply, a severe food shortage plagued the Roman populace. Allegations surfaced accusing Cleander of stealing from the grain supply for personal interests. Such accusations ignited public fury, leading to a violent confrontation as enraged citizens attacked Cleander in the streets. Seeking refuge with Commodus, Cleander hoped for salvation, but the public's demand for justice rang loud. Fearing repercussion, Commodus, mindful of his own safety, sacrificed Cleander, designating him as the scapegoat. Cleander, along with his family, met a gruesome end as they were beheaded and left to the enraged mob to be torn apart by the people.
The Reign of a Megalomaniac
Born to the purple and holding immense power, all these things began to go to Commodus’ head. According to accounts, he was also a very handsome man, renowned for his beauty. Herodian referred to him as the most beautiful man of his age. Commodus had fair hair, rumored to be gilded with gold dust, which gave him an extra glitter that contemporary beauty products couldn't replicate. In this respect, he bore some resemblance to Cesare Borgia. Both were handsome, strong, but vicious. And both could possibly be nothing if it weren't for their fathers.
Recognizing his physical and authoritative superiority over others, he eventually became consumed by self-indulgence, went a lil’ bit nuts. But when it comes to mental health, it doesn’t seem to be Roman emperors’ forte. The rule of Targaryen family (from A Song of Ice and Fire) genes can apply here on Roman emperors the same way. Every time a new Roman emperor comes to power, the gods toss a coin in the air, and the whole known world holds its breath to see how it will land.
He had several factors to consider:
His people were starving.
If he didn’t address their needs, he risked losing their favor.
He knew the masses loved gladiators.
And again, he was losing popularity.
Plus, he had to demonstrate the biceps he has been developing for years.
Connecting these dots, he concluded that the most logical solution to this predicament was to become a gladiator. Well, he wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.
At the beginning of the article, I mentioned that he wasn’t the vicious guy who would kill his own father, as depicted in the movie Gladiator. However, he still didn’t hold back from cutting off people’s noses and ears for entertainment. In fact, even by the standards of his time, he was deemed to be brutal in the gladiatorial arena. On a good day, he would give his gladiator opponents blunt swords and allow them to be killed quickly, while on other days he would simply tie them together and force them to fight until at least one was dead.
He also had a different approach towards eugenics. He despised disabled people, often subjecting them to death in the arena and forcing dwarves to fight each other to the death.
Commodus also loved exotic animals but saw them merely as theatrical props waiting to be killed somewhere in the arena. They added dramatic value to his gladiatorial shows. Cassius Dio notes that Commodus once killed 100 lions in a single day. The reason he could do this without getting his arm cut off was because the animals were tied up and couldn't fight back. Therefore, by killing these helpless creatures, Commodus added animal cruelty to his wide repertoire of misbehavior.
Commodus’ participation in the gladiatorial wars certainly increased the ratings of the show, but it also attracted criticism from the senate. Additionally, aware of his own worth, Commodus was charging Roma a million sesterces (a large Roman brass coin at the time) for each of his shows as a gladiator, which was not helping the Roman economy.
Believing himself to be a living god, possessing the beauty of Apollo and the strength of Hercules, he insisted that everyone refer to him as “Hercules, son of Zeus.” I assume that people kindly referred to him as such because it is hard to defy such a request when the guy in front of you is a pretty sensitive dude and can easily club you to death. Over time, the public affirmation of his delusions may have also gone to his head, further fueling his megalomania.
As part of his small tantrums as an emperor, he renamed Rome “Commodiana” and the Roman people “Commodiani”. He also changed the names of every month into variations of his name, which must have been one of the most difficult tasks he undertook as an emperor, considering the multitude of potential nicknames one could have.
Commodus' Decline
His wife, Crispina, could not bear him a child, which at the time was considered her most important duty as a wife. Around ten years into their marriage, Commodus falsely accused her of adultery and banished her to Capri, where she lived out the rest of her days until her execution in 191.
Among his concubines, he had a favorite named Marcia, whom Commodus considered as a wife, confidante, and advisor.
In December 192 when he decided to partake in a gladiatorial spectacle on the dawn of 193 CE, marking the city's rejuvenation, his mistress Marcia, along with his new chamberlain Electus and Praetorian Guard commander Quintas Aemilius Laetus, realized he had crossed a dangerous threshold. Despite their efforts to dissuade him from his ridiculous plans, he reacted with fury, threatening to include them in a list of intended executions. Subsequently, Marcia resorted to slipping poison into his wine, a customary pre-bath ritual. However, when the poison proved ineffective, a professional wrestler named Narcissus was summoned to finish the deed, strangling him to death. While some clamored for the public display of his corpse through the streets of Rome, Pertinax, who later succeeded Commodus, intervened, ensuring the body remained untouched and eventually laid to rest in Hadrian's Mausoleum.
Aftermath
After his death, all memories of Commodus were completely erased from history due to a Roman tradition called Damnatio Memoriae (condemnation of memory in Latin). This practice was carried out on individuals who dishonored the Roman State, resulting in the destruction of all chronicles and documents related to them. The only surviving account from that age comes from Dio Cassius. According to Dio, Commodus' accession to the throne marked the decline "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron." Dio's account was read by the famous historian Edward Gibbon, who wrote one of the most comprehensive books on the Roman Empire, "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Due to Gibbon's interpretation, Commodus' reign passed into history as the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire, thus securing a great place in history.
Comments