Commodus (/ˈkɒmədəs/;[5]Latin:[ˈkɔmmɔdʊs]; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) wasRoman emperor from 177 to 192, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his fatherMarcus Aurelius and then ruling alone from 180. Commodus's sole reign is commonly thought to mark the end of thePax Romana, a golden age of peace and prosperity in the history of theRoman Empire.
Commodus accompanied his father during theMarcomannic Wars in 172 and on a tour of the Eastern provinces in 176. The following year, he became the youngestemperor andconsul up to that point, at the age of 16. His solo reign saw less military conflict than that of Marcus Aurelius, but internal intrigues and conspiracies abounded, goading Commodus to an increasingly dictatorial style of leadership. This culminated in his creating a deificpersonality cult, including his performances as agladiator in theColosseum. Throughout his reign, Commodus entrusted the management of affairs to his palace chamberlain and praetorian prefects, namelySaoterus,Perennis, andCleander.
Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus was born on 31 August 161 inLanuvium, nearRome.[6] He was the son of the reigning emperor,Marcus Aurelius, and Aurelius' first cousin,Faustina the Younger, the youngest daughter ofEmperorAntoninus Pius, who had died only a few months before. Commodus had a twin brother, Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, who died in 165. On 12 October 166, Commodus was madecaesar together with his younger brother,Marcus Annius Verus.[6][7] The latter died in 169 having failed to recover from an operation, which left Commodus as Marcus Aurelius's sole surviving son.[7]
He was looked after by his father's physician,Galen,[8][9] who treated many of Commodus's common illnesses. Commodus received extensive tutoring from a multitude of teachers with a focus on intellectual education.[10] Among his teachers, Onesicrates, Antistius Capella,Titus Aius Sanctus, and Pitholaus are mentioned.[10][11]
Left: Medallion depicting thecaesar Commodus (right) with his fatherMarcus (left), AD 172 Right:Aureus of Commodus as co-augustus, AD 177[12]
Commodus is known to have been atCarnuntum, the headquarters of Marcus Aurelius during theMarcomannic Wars, in 172. It is presumed that there, on 15 October 172, he was given thevictory titleGermanicus, in the presence of thearmy. The title suggests Commodus was present at his father's victory over theMarcomanni. On 20 January 175, Commodus entered theCollege of Pontiffs, the starting point of a career in public life.[6][13]
In 175,Avidius Cassius, Governor ofSyria, declared himself emperor following rumours that Marcus Aurelius had died. Having been accepted as emperor by Syria,Palestina andEgypt, Cassius carried on his rebellion even after it had become obvious Marcus was still alive. During the preparations for the campaign against Cassius, Commodus assumed histoga virilis on theDanubian front on 7 July 175, thus formally enteringadulthood. Cassius, however, was killed by one of hiscenturions before the campaign against him could begin. Commodus subsequently accompanied his father on a lengthy trip to the Eastern provinces, during which he visitedAntioch. The Emperor and his son then travelled toAthens, where they were initiated into theEleusinian Mysteries. They then returned to Rome in theautumn of 176.[13]
Marcus Aurelius was the first emperor sinceVespasian to have a legitimate biological son, though he himself was the fifth in the line of the so-calledFive Good Emperors, also known as theAdoptive Emperors, each of whom had adopted his successor. Commodus was the first (anduntil 337, the only) emperor "born in the purple," meaning during his father's reign.[14]
On 27 November 176, Marcus Aurelius bestowed the title ofImperator on Commodus.[15] Modern authors often use this date as the beginning of his reign,[4] but the exact chronology of events is uncertain.[16] Commodus is first mentioned asAugustus (emperor) on 17 June 177,[17] but he reckoned his reign back to his salutation in 176.[16][18] For instance, he assumed thetribunicia potestas (tribunician power) around February 177, but in April 177 he started to backdate this event to November 176.[19]
On 23 December 176, the twoimperatores celebrated a jointtriumph.[20] On 1 January 177, Commodus becameconsul for the first time, which made him, aged 15, the youngest consul up to that time (the minimum age for the consulship was around 30).[21] He subsequently marriedBruttia Crispina before accompanying his father to the Danubian front once more in 178. Marcus Aurelius died there on 17 March 180, leaving the 18-year-old Commodus as sole emperor.[22]
Upon his ascension, Commodus devalued theRoman currency. He reduced the weight of thedenarius from 96 perRoman pound to 105 per Roman pound (3.85 grams to 3.35 grams). He also reduced the silver purity from 79 percent to 76 percent – the silver weight dropping from 2.57 grams to 2.34 grams. In 186, he further reduced the purity and silver weight to 74 percent and 2.22 grams respectively, being 108 to the Roman pound.[23] His reduction of the denarius during his rule was the largest since the empire's first devaluation duringNero's reign.
The obverse image of a silver denarius depicting Roman Emperor Commodus (177–192 CE)
Whereas the reign ofMarcus Aurelius had been marked by almost continuous warfare, Commodus's rule was comparatively peaceful in the military sense, but was also characterised by political strife and the increasingly arbitrary and capricious behaviour of the emperor himself. In the view ofCassius Dio, his accession marked the descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust".[24]
Despite his notoriety, and considering the importance of his reign, Commodus's years in power are not well chronicled. The principal surviving literary sources areHerodian, Cassius Dio (a contemporary and sometimes first-hand observer andSenator during Commodus's reign, whose reports for this period survive only as fragments and abbreviations), and theHistoria Augusta (untrustworthy because of its character as a work of literature rather than of history, with elements of fiction embedded within its biographies; in the case of Commodus, it probably embroiders what the author found in reasonably good contemporary sources).
Commodus remained with the Danube armies for only a short time before negotiating a peace treaty with the Danubian tribes. He then returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph for the conclusion of the wars on 22 October 180. Unlike the preceding emperorsTrajan,Hadrian,Antoninus Pius andMarcus Aurelius, he seems to have had little interest in the business of administration. He tended throughout his reign to leave the practical running of the state to a succession of favourites, beginning withSaoterus, a freedman fromNicomedia who had become hischamberlain.
Dissatisfaction with this state of affairs led to a series of conspiracies and attempted coups, which in turn eventually provoked Commodus to take charge of affairs, which he did in an increasingly dictatorial manner. Nevertheless, though thesenatorial order came to hate and fear him, the evidence suggests 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 spectaculargladiatorial combats. He was not an inspired combatant. He killed animals by bow, standing above the arena. When he fought fellow gladiators, they would purposely submit. During this period Rome's economy declined.
One of the ways he paid for his donatives (imperial handouts) and mass entertainments was to tax the senatorial order. On many inscriptions, the traditional order of the two nominal powers of the state, the Senate and People (Senatus Populusque Romanus) was provocatively reversed (Populus Senatusque...).
At the outset of his reign, Commodus, aged 18, inherited many of his father's senior advisers, notablyTiberius Claudius Pompeianus (the second husband of Commodus's eldest sisterLucilla), his father-in-lawGaius Bruttius Praesens, Titus Fundanius Vitrasius Pollio, andAufidius Victorinus thePrefect of the City of Rome. He also had four surviving sisters, all of them with husbands who were potential rivals. Lucilla was over ten years his senior and held the rank ofAugusta as the widow of her first husband,Lucius Verus.
The first crisis of the reign came in 182, when Lucilla engineered a conspiracy against her brother. Her motive is alleged to have been the envy of theEmpressCrispina. Lucilla's husband, Pompeianus, was not involved, but two men alleged to have been her lovers,Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus (the consul of 167, also her first cousin) and Appius Claudius Quintianus, attempted to murder Commodus as he entered a theater. They bungled the job and were seized by the emperor's bodyguard.
Quadratus and Quintianus were executed. Lucilla was exiled toCapri and later killed. Pompeianus retired from public life. One of the twopraetorian prefects,Publius Tarrutenius Paternus, had actually been involved in the conspiracy but his involvement was not discovered until later. In the meantime, he and his colleague,Sextus Tigidius Perennis, were able to arrange for the murder of Saoterus, the hated chamberlain.
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, the son of the juristSalvius Julianus and betrothed to Paternus' daughter. Salvius and Paternus were executed along with a number of other prominent consulars and senators.Didius Julianus, the future emperor and a relative of Salvius Julianus, was dismissed from the governorship ofGermania Inferior.
After the murder of the powerfulSaoterus, Perennis took over the reins of government and Commodus found a new chamberlain and favourite inCleander, aPhrygianfreedman who had married one of the emperor's mistresses, Demostratia. Cleander was in fact the person who had murdered Saoterus. After these attempts on his life, Commodus spent much of his time outside Rome, mostly on the family estates at Lanuvium. As he was physically strong, his chief interest was sport: he took part inhorse racing,chariot racing, and combat with beasts and men, mostly in private but occasionally in public.
Commodus was inaugurated in 183 as consul with Aufidius Victorinus as colleague and assumed the titlePius. War broke out inDacia: few details are available, but it appears two future contenders for the throne,Clodius Albinus andPescennius Niger, both distinguished themselves in the campaign. Also, inBritain in 184, the governorUlpius Marcellus re-advanced the Roman frontier northward to theAntonine Wall, but thelegionaries revolted against his harsh discipline and acclaimed another legate, Priscus, as emperor.[25]
Priscus refused to accept their acclamation, and Perennis had all the legionarylegates in Britaincashiered. On 15 October 184, at theCapitoline Games, aCynic philosopher publicly denounced Perennis before Commodus. His tale was considered false and he was immediately put to death. According to Cassius Dio, Perennis, though ruthless and ambitious, was not personally corrupt and was a generally good administrator.[25]
However, the following year a detachment of soldiers from Britain (they had been drafted toItaly to suppress brigands) also denounced Perennis to the emperor as plotting to make his own son emperor (they had been enabled to do so by Cleander, who was seeking to dispose of his rival), and Commodus gave them permission to execute him as well as his wife and sons. The fall of Perennis brought a new spate of executions: Aufidius Victorinus committed suicide. Ulpius Marcellus was replaced asgovernor of Britain byPertinax. Brought to Rome and tried for treason, Marcellus narrowly escaped death.
Cleander proceeded to concentrate power in his own hands and to enrich himself by taking responsibility for all public offices. He sold (and bestowed entry to) Senate seats, army commands,governorships, and increasingly,suffect consulships, to the highest bidder. Unrest rose throughout the empire, with large numbers of army deserters causing trouble inGaul andGermany. Pescennius Niger dealt with the deserters in Gaul in a military campaign. The revolt inBrittany was put down by twolegions brought over from Britain.
In 187, one of the leaders of the deserters,Maternus, came from Gaul intending to assassinate Commodus at the Festival of the Great Goddess in March but was betrayed and executed. In the same yearPertinax unmasked a conspiracy by two enemies of Cleander,Antistius Burrus (one of Commodus's brothers-in-law) andArrius Antoninus. As a result, Commodus appeared more rarely in public, preferring to live on his estates.
Early in 188, Cleander disposed of the current praetorian prefect,Atilius Aebutianus, and took over supreme command of thePraetorian Guard at the new rank ofa pugione ("dagger-bearer"), with two praetorian prefects subordinate to him. Now at the zenith of his power, Cleander continued to sell public offices as his private business. The climax came in the year 190, which had 25 suffect consuls—a record in the 1,000-year history of the Roman consulship—all appointed by Cleander (they included the future EmperorSeptimius Severus).
In the spring of 190, Rome was afflicted by a food shortage, for which thepraefectus annonaePapirius Dionysius, the official actually in charge of thegrain supply, contrived to lay the blame on Cleander. At the end of June, a mob demonstrated against Cleander during a horse race in theCircus Maximus: he sent the Praetorian Guard to put down the disturbances, but Pertinax, who was now City Prefect of Rome, dispatched theVigiles Urbani to oppose them. Cleander fled to Commodus, who was atLaurentum in the house of theQuinctilii, for protection, but the mob followed him calling for his head.
At the urging of his mistressMarcia, Commodus had Cleander beheaded and his son killed. Other victims at this time were the praetorian prefect Julius Julianus, Commodus's cousinAnnia Fundania Faustina, and his brother-in-law Mamertinus. Papirius Dionysius was executed, too. In AD 191, Commodus took more of the reins of power, though he continued to rule through a cabal consisting of Marcia, his new chamberlain Eclectus, and the new praetorian prefectQuintus Aemilius Laetus.
Medallion of Commodus depicting him as Hercules, AD 192.
In opposition to the Senate, in his pronouncements andiconography, Commodus had always stressed his unique status as a source of god-like power, liberality, and physical prowess. Innumerable statues around the empire were set up portraying him in the guise ofHercules, 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). Moreover, as Hercules, he could claim to be the son ofJupiter, the supreme god of the Romanpantheon. These tendencies now increased tomegalomaniacal proportions. Far from celebrating his descent from Marcus Aurelius, the actual source of his power, he stressed his own personal uniqueness as the bringer of a new order, seeking to re-cast the empire in his own image.
During 191, the city of Rome was extensively damaged by a fire that raged for several days, during which many public buildings including theTemple of Pax, theTemple of Vesta, and parts of the imperial palace were destroyed.
Perhaps seeing this as an opportunity, early in 192 Commodus, declaring himself the newRomulus, ritually re-founded Rome, renaming the cityColonia Lucia Annia Commodiana. All the months of the year were renamed to correspond exactly with his (now twelve) names:Lucius,Aelius,Aurelius,Commodus,Augustus,Herculeus,Romanus,Exsuperatorius,Amazonius,Invictus,Felix, andPius. The legions were renamedCommodianae, the fleet which imported grain fromAfrica was termedAlexandria Commodiana Togata, the Senate was entitled the Commodian Fortunate Senate, his palace and the Roman people themselves were all given the nameCommodianus, and the day on which these reforms were decreed was to be calledDies Commodianus.[27]
Thus, he presented himself as the fountainhead of the Empire, Roman life, and religion. He also had the head of theColossus of Nero adjacent to theColosseum replaced with his own portrait, gave it a club, placed abronzelion at its feet to make it look likeHercules Romanus, and added an inscription boasting of being "the only left-handed fighter to conquer twelve times one thousand men".[28]
Damnatio memoriae of Commodus on an inscription in the Museum of Roman History inOsterburken, Germany. The abbreviation "CO" has been restored with paint.
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. In December, he announced his intention to inaugurate the year 193 as both consul and gladiator on 1 January.
When Marcia found a list of people Commodus intended to have executed, she discovered that she, the prefect Laetus, and Eclectus were on it. The three of them plotted to assassinate the emperor. On 31 December, Marcia poisoned Commodus's food, but he vomited up the poison, so the conspirators sent his wrestling partnerNarcissus to strangle him in his bath.[29]
Upon his death, the Senate declared him a public enemy (ade factodamnatio memoriae) and restored the original name of the city of Rome and its institutions. Statues of Commodus were demolished. His body was buried in theMausoleum of Hadrian.
In 195, the emperorSeptimius Severus, trying to gain favour with the family of Marcus Aurelius, rehabilitated Commodus's memory and had the Senatedeify him.[30]
Cassius Dio, a first-hand witness, describes him as "not naturally wicked but, on the contrary, as guileless as any man that ever lived. 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."[31]
His recorded actions do tend to show a rejection of his father's policies, his father's advisers, and especially his father's austere lifestyle, and an alienation from the surviving members of his family. It seems likely that he was raised in an atmosphere ofStoicasceticism, which he rejected entirely upon his accession to sole rule.
After repeated attempts on Commodus's life,Roman citizens were often killed for making him angry. One such notable event was the attempted extermination of the house of theQuinctilii. Condianus and Maximus were executed on the pretext that while they were not implicated in any plots, their wealth and talent would make them unhappy with the current state of affairs.[32] HistorianAelius Lampridius recorded another event taking place at the Roman baths atTerme Taurine, where a young Commodus ordered an attendant to be thrown into an oven after he had found his bathwater to be lukewarm, although a sheep skin was secretly substituted by a slave to replicate the burnt smell, sparing the attendant's life.[33][34]
Twoaurei of AD 186 and 192 showing Commodus' change from "Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus" to his original "Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus"
His original name was Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus.[35] On his father's death in 180, Commodus changed this to Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus, before changing back to his birth name in 191.[2] Later that year he adopted as his full styleLucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Augustus Herculeus Romanus Exsuperatorius Amazonius Invictus Felix Pius (the order of some of these titles varies in the sources). "Exsuperatorius" (the supreme) was a title given to Jupiter, and "Amazonius" identified him again with Hercules.
An inscribed altar fromDura-Europos on the Euphrates shows that Commodus's titles and the renaming of the months were disseminated to the farthest reaches of the Empire; moreover, that even auxiliary military units received the title Commodiana, and that he claimed two additional titles:Pacator Orbis (pacifier of the world) andDominus Noster (Our Lord). The latter eventually would be used as a conventional title by Roman emperors, starting about a century later, but Commodus seems to have been the first to assume it.[36]
Disdaining the more philosophic inclinations of his father, Commodus was extremely proud of his physical prowess. The historian Herodian, a contemporary, described Commodus as an extremely handsome man.[37] As mentioned above, 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. He was left-handed and very proud of the fact.[38] Cassius Dio and the writers of theAugustan History say that Commodus was a skilled archer, who could shoot the heads offostriches in full gallop, and kill a panther as it attacked a victim in the arena.
Commodus also had a passion for gladiatorial combat, which he took so far as to take to thearena himself, dressed as asecutor.[39] The Romans found Commodus's gladiatorial combat to be scandalous and disgraceful.[40] 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 againstbarbarians among other opponents of Rome. The consensus was that it was below his office to participate as a gladiator.[41] Popular rumors spread alleging he was not actually the son of Marcus Aurelius, but of a gladiator his mother Faustina had taken as a lover at the coastal resort ofCaieta.[42]
Cassius Dio claimed that citizens of Rome who lacked feet (either through accident or illness) were taken to the arena, where they were tethered together for Commodus to club to death while pretending they were giants.[43] Dio also wrote that it was Commodus's custom to privately use deadly weapons to fight, murdering and maiming his opponents.[44][45]
Commodus was also known for fighting exotic animals in the arena, often to the horror and disgust of the Roman populace. According to Cassius Dio, Commodus once killed 100 lions in a single day.[46] Later, he decapitated a running ostrich with a specially designed dart[47] and afterward carried his sword and the bleeding head of the dead bird over to the Senators' seating area, and motioned to suggest that they were to be next.[48] Dio notes that the targeted senators actually found this more ridiculous than frightening, and chewed onlaurel leaves to conceal their laughter.[49] On other occasions, Commodus killed three elephants on the floor of the arena by himself,[50] and a giraffe.[51]
The Emperor Commodus Leaving the Arena at the Head of the Gladiators (detail) byEdwin Blashfield (1848–1936), Hermitage Museum and Gardens, Norfolk, Virginia.
The 2017 docu-drama miniseriesRoman Empire: Reign of Blood retells his story.[53][54] In this version, Narcissus kills Commodus in a duel after learning that the Emperor's arena opponents had been armed only with edgeless swords. At first, Narcissus strangles Commodus, but ultimately kills him by piercing his heart with a blunt sword.Aaron Jakubenko portrays Commodus in the series.
Commodus appears as one of the antagonists in the popular young adult fiction novel seriesThe Trials of Apollo. He is revealed as having become a minor god after his death and has survived into modern times, along with two other Roman emperors,Caligula andNero.
^The epitomator of Cassius Dio (72.22) gives the story that Faustina the Elder promised to marry Avidius Cassius. This is also echoed inHA"Marcus Aurelius" 24.
Giacosa, Giorgio (1977).Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta.ISBN0-8390-0193-2.
Lambert, Royston (1984).Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking.ISBN0-670-15708-2.
^"Roman Emperors – DIR commodus".www.roman-emperors.org. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved24 June 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^To "accept kinship with Commodus ... the bluntly pragmatic decision was taken to deify the former emperor, thus legitimizing Severus' seizure of power." SeeAnnelise Freisenbruch,Caesars' Wives: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Roman Empire (London and New York: Free Press, 2010), 187.
^Dio, Cassius, 73.1.2, Loeb edition, translated E. Cary
^Dio, Cassius, 73.5.3, Loeb edition, translated E. Cary
^Dio, Cassius,Roman History: Epitome of Book LXXIII pp 111.
^Gibbon, Edward,The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 5. Methuen, 1898.
^Herodian's Roman History F.L. Muller Edition 1.15.7
^Echols, Edward C., "Herodian of Antioch's History of the Roman Empire", English translation, UCLA Press, Berkeley, CA (1961), 1.15.1-9
^Historia Augusta, Life of Marcus Aurelius, XIX. The filmThe Fall of the Roman Empire makes use of this story: one of the characters is an old gladiator who eventually reveals himself to be Commodus's real father.
^Dio, Cassius, 73.20.3, Loeb edition, translated E. Cary
^Gibbon, p. 106: "disgorged at once a hundred lions; a hundred darts"
^Gibbon, Edward,The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volume I. Everyman's Library (Knopf) New York. 1910. p. 106: "with arrows whose point was shaped in the form of a crescent"
^Lane Fox, Robin,The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian, Basic Books, 2006, p. 446 "brandishing a sword in one hand and bloodied neck...He gesticulated at the Senate."
^Scullard, H. H.,The Elephant in the Greek and Roman World, Thames and Hudson, 1974, p. 252
^Gibbon, p. 107: "*1 Commodus killed a camelopardalis or giraffe ... the most useless of the quadrupeds".
^IMDB"Commodus".IMDb. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved16 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Olivier Hekster,Commodus: An Emperor at the Crossroads: Dutch monographs on ancient history and archaeology, 23. Brill, 2002.ISSN0924-3550.
On Heksters study, see the detailed commentary by Christian Witschel, "Kaiser, Gladiator, Gott. Zur Selbstdarstellung des Commodus",Scripta Classica Israelica,23 (2004), pp. 255–272 (online).
L. L. Howe,The Praetorian Prefect from Commodus to Diocletian (A.D. 180–305). Chicago, 1942.[ISBN missing]
Falko von Saldern,Studien zur Politik des Commodus. Verlag Marie Leidorf, 2003,ISBN3-89646-833-2.
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