Commodus: Emperor, Gladiator, Madman

when it comes to being a roman emperor if you want to be remembered there seem to be two surefire ways of doing it one is to be a capable ruler and a strong military leader men like augustus trajan and vespasian come to mind the other is to go completely mad with power like caligula and nero for better or worse history does seem to love a bloodthirsty deranged lunatic marcus aurelius an emperor who we've already covered was firmly placed in the first camp therefore it wasn't unusual to expect his son commodus to follow in his footsteps but he didn't nope in fact commodus was about as far removed from his father's legacy as one would think possible [Applause] commodus was born on august 31 161 a.d in lanovium the modern-day city of lenovo about 20 miles southeast of rome he was the son of roman emperor marcus aurelius and his wife faustina the younger commodus was born in the purple meaning that he was born during the reign of his father he was the 17th roman emperor but the first to be born under these conditions as commodus himself said in a speech i never knew the touch of common cloth the purple received me as soon as i came forth into the world and the sun shone down upon me man and emperor at the same moment you might think this set him up for great things but historian cassius dio described commodus as being as guileless as any man that ever lived characterizing him by cowardice ignorance and great simplicity in 166 the five-year-old commodus was named caesar by his father which by that point was a dynastic title meant to designate him as the heir to the throne marcus aurelius also appointed another one of his sons anias virus as caesar showing that he intended for the two brothers to rule jointly as he did with his own sibling lucius versus however anias virus died in 169 a.d and for whatever reason his father decided against appointing another caesar and kept commodus as solaire in doing so he broke with the tradition established by the past five roman rulers or the five good emperors as they were known where each one selected his successor and adopted him instead marcus aurelius hoped that he could mold his own flesh and blood into becoming a great ruler he provided commodus with the best education that money could buy paying large fees for scholars to come live in rome and tutor his son he took commodus alongside him during military campaigns even when he was young so that he may learn how to command an army in 177 a.d marcus aurelius granted the title of augustus to commodus thus equaling his own status and making his son co-ruler even so he realized that the new emperor was still impatient and immature in the last years of his life marcus aurelius appointed many of his most trusted generals and companions to serve as advisors to commodus then in 180 a.d while engaged in the macromanic wars he died leaving his son as the new sole emperor of rome [Music] commodus was 18 years old when he took over the throne in the middle of a war he could have been a good ruler if he would have been inclined to listen to the many guardians that his father had provided for him instead it did not take long for him to start ignoring them completely to pursue his own whims or even worse the ideas of his sycophantic entourage it was these people that cassius dio blamed for the initial corruption of commodus he called the young emperor the slave of his companions and greek historian herodian agreed that these courtiers took advantage of the naive ruler and filled his head with tales of pleasures and delights awaiting him back in rome commodus soon made up his mind he wanted the war to end not because of the bloodshed or because it was best for rome but because he wanted to return to his palace and start living the lavish life of an emperor at this point in the war rome had the clear advantage by pressing on they could have neutralized enemies who had been causing problems for 15 years against the advice of all of his generals commodus told them to negotiate peace as soon as possible and so the macromanic wars ended in 180 with terms favorable to rome of course but still mild compared to what they could have been back in the capital of the empire commodus threw a celebration in his honor called a triumph with games and music and feasts and handouts to the roman populace to win over the people in fact commodus managed to retain his popularity with the common man throughout most of his 12-year solo reign mainly because he was often willing to open the royal coffers and spend money on lavish spectacles even so it did not take long before those around him started to plot against the emperor in 182 a.d commodores earned the ire of his older sister lucilla who was married to claudius pompenius one of the most distinguished generals under marcus aurelius who now mostly served as an ignored advisor to the new emperor before this lucilla had also been married to lucius virus marx aurelius's brother and co-emperor therefore lucilla had been granted the title of augusta and all the imperial honors that came with it when commodus became emperor though he married brudia crispina and all of a sudden all of the privileges of being rome's highest ranking woman were afforded to her and lucilla considered this a great insult she knew that her husband pompenius would not take part in a plot to assassinate commodus so instead she turned to a young nobleman named marcus ormidius quadratus anianus who was also rumored to be her lover quadratus enlisted the help of a senator named quintianus who agreed to attack the emperor in the entrance of an amphitheater under the shroud of darkness according to historian herodian quintianus had the opportunity to slay commodus but made the mistake of delivering a little speech beforehand telling him that the senate wanted him dead the time he wasted was enough for the emperor's bodyguards to pounce on him and kill the would-be assassin thus foiling the first plot on commodus life afterwards came an investigation and everyone suspected of taking part in the plot was put to death this included quadratus and even the emperor's sister lucilla but curiously enough pompenius was spared maybe commodus genuinely believed that the general played no part in the matter or maybe he still felt some kind of deference for one of his father's closest allies either way claudius pompenius was allowed to quietly retire away from rome and go and live on an estate in the country citing his old age as an excuse cassius dio gave an interesting account of a man named sextus quincilius condianes who managed to fake his death and evade the wrath of commodus his family had been implicated in the assassination plot and his father and uncle had already been executed when he heard that he too had been condemned to death condianus took a hair killed it and drank its blood but kept it in his mouth instead of swallowing he then rode his horse and fell on purpose vomiting up the blood those around him thought that he had been gravely injured and took him to his bed believing that he was at death's door nobody questioned when news spread that he had died but by that point he had already disappeared instructing his servants to place a ram's body in his coffin and burn it commodus eventually learned of the deception and scoured the empire looking for the man but he was allegedly never found and his ultimate fate remains a mystery attempt on his life had a major impact on commodus behavior he took the words of quintianus to heart and from then on considered the senate his enemy throughout his whole reign commodus looked for new ways of curtailing the power of senators and other wealthy officials including having them executed and their property confiscated after all the money that he spent on his lavish lifestyle had to come from somewhere whenever a power vacuum is created someone new always steps up to try and fill that void as the senators lost their authority and influence other people from commodus's inner circle rose up to improve their station one of these was tigardius parenis who was elevated to the position of praetorian prefect at the beginning of commodus's reign and steadily gained more power for a time he was even considered the de facto ruler of rome he was more than happy to let the emperor engage in his licentious whims and games while perennis took on more administrative duties he also turned the emperor against anyone he perceived to be a threat to his authority by convincing commodus that they were plotting against him this is how he got rid of the other praetorian prefect publius tarantinius paternus he implicated him in a plot to assassinate the emperor also according to herodian perennis targeted the wealthiest senators and by confiscating their properties made himself the richest man of his time understandably perennial sent himself a lot of enemies some because of his actions and others who were simply envious of his privileged position but as it turned out he could not convince commodus to have them all executed as there were other people apart from him who were in the emperor's good graces one of them was marcus aurelius clander a freedman born in phrygia a region which is today part of turkey clander had also risen through the ranks by being a part of commodus's inner circle cassius dio said that he possessed the greatest influence after perennis which is perhaps more impressive as clienta had originally been brought to rome as a slave to serve as a pack carrier however by 182 a.d he was working inside the imperial household after the assassination plot client killed commodores chamberlains sayatirus who allegedly was part of the conspiracy and assumed his position thus entering into the emperor's close confidence [Music] because perennis and cleianda were both vying for the same position at the emperor's most trusted sidekick they hated each other and were always looking for ways to get rid of one another in the end it was cleaner who triumphed if only for a little while in 185 a.d a curious scene unfolded during the capitoline games celebrating jupiter as the crowd filled the theatre and commodus took his seat on the imperial chair an old man apparently dressed like a philosopher ran out into the center of the stage he said to the emperor the sword of perennis was at his throat he warned that the praetorian prefect was raising an army to oppose commodus who was sure to face death if he did not deal with the threat immediately for his efforts the old man was seized on the orders of parents and burned to death commodus did not know how to react it was true that perennis had convinced the emperor to place one of his sons in charge of the army at a lyricum a roman province but his suspicions were not raised enough to act against his confidant not yet at least but another event occurred a short while later which persuaded commodus that perennis had ambitions of overthrowing him a group of soldiers arrived in rome and without perennis knowledge went straight to the emperor they had come from the prefect sun in illyricum where they had discovered that he had begun minting coins with the prefect's portrait on it in anticipation of perennis claiming the throne this was enough proof for commodus who had parents arrested and beheaded later having his son killed as well it is unclear whether or not this plot was actually real and whether perennis was indeed planning a coup or if it was just a ruse to get rid of him perhaps engineered by his most bitter enemy cleeander herodian makes no claim or suggestion that perennis had been the victim of a conspiracy but cassius dio portrays the prefect in a positive light saying that he lived a most incorruptible and temperate life and that he guarded commodities in the imperial office he also mentions that whenever something bad against premise occurred cleianda was there to whisper in the emperor's ear and ultimately it was he who convinced commodus to deal with the prefect permanently after the death of parents cleaned her was the most powerful man in the empire after commodus of course and he refrained from no form of mischief selling all privileges and indulging in wantonness and debauchery the next attempted plot against commodus actually came soon after this one in 187 a.d but it was only mentioned by herodian so we aren't sure how accurate it is it concerns a soldier named moternus who deserted his legion and assembled a mob of outlaws to pillage towns and villages throughout the empire it was a situation similar to that of spartacus where matternus freed slaves and his ever-increasing army became strong enough to attack and plunder cities eventually the mob entered italy itself and matterness set his sights on the grandest prize possible the throne of rome however despite his army growing to a size he would never have expected matterness realized that it still wasn't capable of standing toe to toe against the praetorian guard therefore he reasoned that a cunning assassination plot would be preferable to an all-out battle maternas picked the perfect time for it it was the beginning of spring and the romans were celebrating a festival honoring the goddess cybella of course it was a grand spectacle because if there was one thing commodus was good at it was throwing a party during the revelry it was customary for people to dress up and on this occasion no official or religious uniform was off limits anyone could dress up as anyone else so maternity and his men donned the uniform of the praetorian guard hoping that it would get them close to the emperor on paper this sounded like a good plan but it ended in failure as maternity was betrayed by some of his men he was captured and executed while commodus escaped yet another attempt on his life by this point commodus couldn't help but notice that despite all his executions there were always new people appearing who wanted him dead he was never the most attentive emperor in the world but these plots persuaded him to spend less and less time in public he was out of rome most of the time preferring the remoteness and security of his private estates this left the empire in the charge of others mainly cleaned her like peronus before him cleanser used his position to make himself the richest man in rome he sold governorships military commands senator ships and even appointed 25 consoles in a single year something which had never been done before he was careful to send a large part of his money to commodus so that the emperor would not feel slighted or ignored but of course nothing lasts forever and cleaned a two had to fall this happened in 190 a.d in the previous year rome had been hit first by a plague than a famine the people were angry and they blamed cleander as he became rather notorious for his greed there was also the rumor true or not that the official had hoarded large supplies of grain because he thought this was the one way to control the masses this had the opposite effect though and riots broke out as violent mobs demanded his death clander tried to put an end to this he sent out the imperial cavalry to chase down the rioters and gave the order to slaughter them all without mercy but even this didn't work as people barricaded their houses climbed on their roofs and started pelting the riders with rocks and other projectiles eventually word of the riot and the bloodshed reached commodus who lived blissfully ignorant of the problems of the romans clander made sure of that after all but this time there was nothing he could do to save himself fearing that a civil war was ready to break out the emperor had clearanda seized and beheaded and placed his head on a spear and sent it into the cheering crowd afterwards cleaned his sons were killed as were all of his close associates and their bodies were again turned over to the ravenous mobs so that they could desecrate and mutilate them to their hearts content and satiate their blood loss as the situation quieted down commodus realized that once again he had evaded peril he was angry once he understood just how much power cleaner had managed to attain so he concluded that it was time for another series of executions and assassinations of the prominent men of rome who could pose a threat to him [Music] you might have noticed by this point that we haven't spent a lot of time talking about the things commodus did as emperor that's mainly because despite a lengthy 12-year reign there isn't much to talk about a war did break out in dacia and a revolt in britain but these were both solved relatively quickly plus it's not like commodus played any part in them it was his generals like pertinax clodius albinius and pescenius niger who acted and all three of them would go on to have short reigns emperor in the near future for the majority of the reign commodus stayed completely detached from his administrative concerns he was too busy playing games and having feasts to bother himself with trivial matters such as running an empire it wasn't until the last few years after the death of cleianda that commodus became more involved and that is when he truly indulged his egomania and madness for starters he decided that he was the reincarnation of romulus the legendary founder of rome therefore this allowed him to found the city again and rename it comediana indeed the people were no longer romans but comedians not satisfied commodus also concluded that he was the reincarnation of hercules and had statues erected of him where he was depicted dressed like the mythological hero swinging a club and wearing the pelt of anemian lion he took on a few other names and titles as evidenced by the official greeting to the senate the emperor caesar lucius alias aurelius commodus augustus pius felix somaticus germanicus maximus britannicus pacifier of the whole earth invincible the roman hercules pontifex maximus holder of the tribusian authority for the 18th time imperator of the eighth time console of the seventh time father of his country to consoles praises tribunes and the fortune of comedy and senate greetings all of the names that we just mentioned communist used them to rename the months of the year in his honor because he saw himself as hercules commodus did something no other emperor had done before he became a gladiator actually taking part in fights inside the amphitheaters well actually he was more of a bestiarius if we're being technical as he generally preferred to fight animals not humans and when we say fight we mean in an obviously rigged situation that posed no threat to him whatsoever when he went against animals commodus usually hunted them from an elevated platform where they couldn't reach him only if the animals were harmless would commodus have actually entered the arena floor to give him his due it appears that commodus was a skilled marksman and could easily bring down animals from afar with arrows and javelins if the emperor was fighting other people they obviously knew not to harm him not that they would have been able to even if they wanted as they were armed with objects such as wands and sponges and for each performance commodus paid himself one million sister sees somewhere around 2 million today which also made him the highest paid gladiator of all time cassius dio who as a senator of rome during the time of commodus was front and center for all of this by the way mentions one episode where the emperor beheaded an ostrich he then approached the senators and pointed his bloody sword of them then the ostrich head suggesting that that would be them one day according to do he and the other senators got in the habit of secretly chewing laurel leaves while attending these spectacles so as not to burst out laughing in front of the emperor all of them had to attend these events and all of them did except claudius pompenius who said that he would have preferred death overseeing the son of marcus aurelius in this position commodus had escaped quite a few plots against him during his reign but it was inevitable that eventually his time would run out this happened on new year's eve 192 a.d during the celebrations commodus wanted to make an appearance not from the imperial palace as was tradition but from the gladiatorial barracks wearing armor and surrounded by the other gladiators he shared his plans with martia his favorite mistress who then started crying and begging commodus not to disgrace himself in such a way he also told eclectus a trusted servant and amelia's latest the praetorian prefect but they reacted in a similar way none of this changed his mind of course but the emperor did decide to have the three executed for their insolence and secretly wrote down their names on a list of people to be killed at the start of the new year as it happens marcia came into possession of this list and shared her findings with latest and eclectus they had little choice it was either them or commodus and unsurprisingly they chose the latter later that day as the emperor was taking a bath marcia brought him a cup of wine which had been poisoned commodus drank the whole thing but it caused him to be violently ill vomiting the lethal liquid before it had time to do its job it was now far too late to back away so the conspirators bribed a young strong wrestler named narcissus to enter the bathroom and strangle the emperor and so he did and this was not only the end of commodus but also that of the nerva and nine dynasty his death was followed by one of the most turbulent periods in roman history known as the year of the five emperors but we can talk about that another day so i really hope you did enjoy this video if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below and thank you for watching [Music]

Channel: Biographics

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Length: 20min 42sec (1242 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 16 2020

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