Commodus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Commodus | ||
|---|---|---|
| Emperor of the Roman Empire | ||
| Image:Commodus-Musei Capitolini-antmoose.jpg | ||
| Commodus as Hercules, Capitoline Museums | ||
| Reign | 177 - 17 March 180 (with Marcus Aurelius); 18 March 180 - 31 December 192 (alone) | |
| Full name | Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus | |
| Born | 31 August 161 | |
| Lanuvium | ||
| Died | 31 December 192 | |
| Rome | ||
| Predecessor | Marcus Aurelius (alone) | |
| Successor | Pertinax | |
| Wife/wives | Bruttia Crispina (177-182/187) | |
| Dynasty | Antonine | |
| Father | Marcus Aurelius | |
| Mother | Faustina | |
| ||||||||||
Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus (August 31, 161–December 31, 192) was a Roman Emperor who ruled from 180 to 192.
Contents |
[edit] Life
[edit] Early life and rise to power (161-180)
[edit] Childhood
Commodus was born as Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus in Lanuvium, on the 31st of August 161, as the son of the reigning emperor Marcus Aurelius. He had a twin brother, Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, who died five years later. On October 12, 166, Commodus was made Caesar together with his younger brother Marcus Annius Verus; the latter also died in 169, having failed to recover from an operation, which left Commodus as Marcus Aurelius’ sole surviving son. He was looked after by his father’s physician, Galen. Commodus received extensive tuition at the hands of what Marcus Aurelius called ‘an abundance of good masters’. The focus of Commodus’ education appears to have been intellectual, possibly at the expense of military training.
[edit] Teenage years
Commodus is known to have been at Carnuntum, Marcus Aurelius’ headquarters during the Marcomannic Wars, in 172; it was presumably there that, on 15 October 172, he was given the victory title Germanicus in the presence of the army. The title suggests that Commodus was present at his father’s victory over the Marcomanni. On January 20, 175, Commodus entered the College of Pontiffs, the starting-point of a career in public life.
In April 175, Avidius Cassius, governor of Syria, declared himself emperor following rumours that Marcus Aurelius had died. Having been accepted as emperor by Syria, Palestine and Egypt, Cassius carried on his rebellion even after it had become obvious that Marcus was still alive. During the preparations for the campaign against Cassius, the prince assumed his toga virilis on the Danubian front on July 7, 175, thus formally entering adulthood. Cassius, however, was killed by one of his centurions before the campaign against him could begin.
Commodus subsequently accompanied his father on a lengthy trip to the eastern provinces, during which he visited Antioch. The emperor and his son then travelled to Athens, where they were initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. They then returned to Rome in the autumn of 176.
[edit] Joint rule
On November 27, 176, Marcus Aurelius granted Commodus rank of Imperator, in the middle of 177 the title [Augustus] giving his son the same status as his own and formally sharing power. On 23 December of the same year, the two Augusti celebrated a joint triumph, and Commodus was given tribunician power. On January 1, 177, Commodus became consul for the first time, which made him, aged fifteen, the youngest consul in Roman history. He subsequently married Bruttia Crispina before accompanying his father to the Danubian front once more in 178, where Marcus Aurelius died on March 17, 180, leaving his son Commodus sole emperor.
[edit] Physical Prowess
[edit] Commodus and Hercules
Commodus was extremely proud of his physical prowess, disdaining the more philosophic inclinations of his father. He ordered many statues to be made showing him dressed as Hercules with a lion's hide and a club. 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. Cassius Dio and the writers of the Augustan History say that Commodus was a skilled archer, who could shoot the heads off ostriches in full gallop, and kill a panther as it attacked a victim in the arena.
[edit] Commodus the gladiator
The emperor also had a passion for gladiatorial combat, which he took so far as to take to the arena himself, dressed as a gladiator. This was considered scandalous by the people of Rome, who regarded gladiators as occupying the lowest rungs of society. Commodus always won since his opponents always submitted to the emperor. Thus, these public fights would not end in a death. Privately, it was his custom to slay his practice opponents. For each appearance in the arena, he charged the city of Rome a million sesterces, straining the Roman economy.
[edit] Colonia Commodiana
In 192, part of the city of Rome burned, and Commodus took the opportunity to "re-found" the city of Rome in his own honour, as Colonia Commodiana. The months of the calendar were all named in his honour (Lucius, Aelius, Aurelius, Commodus, Augustus, Herculeus, Romanus, Exsuperatorius, Amazonius, Invictus, Felix, Pius [1]), and the Senate was named as the Commodian Fortunate Senate. The army became known as the Commodian Army.
[edit] Death
A year later, Commodus was strangled in his bath by the wrestler Narcissus, ordered by Commodus' mistress/cousin Marcia, a day before Commodus planned to march into the Senate dressed as a gladiator to take office as consul. Upon his death the Senate passed a damnatio memoriae on him and restored the original name to the city of Rome and its institutions. However, in 195, the emperor Septimius Severus, trying to gain favor with the family of Marcus Aurelius, rehabilitated the memory of Commodus and had the Senate deify him.
[edit] Commodus in popular culture
[edit] Film
- In 1964's The Fall of the Roman Empire, he was portrayed by Christopher Plummer.
- In 2000's Gladiator, he was portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix in an Academy Award-nominated performance. This film took many liberties with Commodus' life; while Phoenix's portrayal of him as a power-mad psychopath who nearly runs Rome into the ground is consistent with historical records, his role in the plot (such as his murder of his father, and death at the hands of protagonist Maximus Decimus Meridius, who did not actually exist) is pure fiction.
Both these films were loosely inspired by the career of the emperor Commodus, although they should not be taken as accurate historical depictions of his life.
[edit] Other
- British adventure writer Talbot Mundy's novel Caesar Dies deals with Commodus' murder and events leading up to it.
- More recently the video game Colosseum: Road to Freedom has included Commodus as an opponent in the Colosseum.
- Along with other contemporary figures, Commodus also features prominently in the historically authentic MMORPG Roma Victor, which is set in the 180s.
[edit] External links
[edit] Primary sources
[edit] Secondary material
- Commodus entry at De Imperatoribus Romanis
ca:Còmmode da:Commodus de:Commodus et:Commodus es:Cómodo eo:Komodo eu:Komodo fr:Commode (empereur) gl:Cómodo ko:콤모두스 hr:Komod it:Commodo he:קומודוס ka:კომოდუსი nl:Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus ja:コンモドゥス no:Commodus pl:Kommodus pt:Cómodo ro:Commodus ru:Луций Элий Аврелий Коммод sk:Commodus sr:Комод sh:Komod fi:Commodus sv:Commodus zh:康茂德
