# Commodus: The Gladiator Emperor

### The Philosopher's Unworthy Son

Born in 161 CE, Lucius Aurelius Commodus was the son of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor whose "Meditations" embodied Stoic virtue and imperial duty. For nearly a century, Rome had been blessed with the "Five Good Emperors," each adopting the most capable successor rather than passing power to biological sons. Marcus Aurelius broke this tradition, making Commodus his heir despite the young man's obvious unsuitability. Whether this reflected paternal blindness, lack of alternatives, or Marcus's own failure to properly educate his son remains debated, but the decision proved catastrophic.

Commodus became co-emperor with his father at age sixteen and sole emperor at eighteen when Marcus died in 180 CE. The contrast between father and son was stark. Where Marcus had been scholarly and dutiful, Commodus was impulsive and pleasure-seeking. Where Marcus had reluctantly waged wars to protect the empire, Commodus immediately abandoned his father's Danube campaigns to return to Rome's comforts. Ancient historians, particularly Cassius Dio who witnessed Commodus's reign, portrayed this transition as marking the end of Rome's golden age and the beginning of its decline into "rust and iron."

Historical context illustration

### Megalomania and Divine Pretensions

Commodus's reign quickly demonstrated his unfitness for power. He showed little interest in governance, preferring to delegate authority to favorites while pursuing personal pleasures. Initially, capable administrators like the praetorian prefect Perennis managed affairs, but palace intrigue led to their successive downfalls. The emperor's paranoia, fed by genuine conspiracies including one by his sister Lucilla in 182 CE, created an atmosphere of suspicion and violence. Commodus began seeing threats everywhere, ordering executions based on rumors and maintaining power through terror.

The emperor's megalomania manifested in increasingly bizarre ways. He identified himself with Hercules, appearing publicly in a lion skin and carrying a club. He renamed Rome "Colonia Commodiana" (Colony of Commodus) and renamed the months after his various titles. The Senate was forced to hail him as the "Roman Hercules," and statues portrayed him in the hero's guise. He demanded worship as a living god, going beyond previous emperors' more subtle divine associations. This self-deification appalled traditionalists who still remembered when emperors, even absolute monarchs, maintained the fiction of being merely first among citizens.

#### The Gladiator Emperor

Commodus's obsession with gladiatorial combat was unprecedented for an emperor. Ancient sources claim he fought in over 700 gladiatorial bouts, though these were carefully staged to ensure his safety. He fought wild animals, dispatching ostriches, lions, and elephants with javelins and swords. Romans found this behavior shameful and degrading to imperial dignity, but Commodus charged the treasury enormous sums for his appearances, treating gladiatorial combat as his profession.

### Arena Madness

Commodus's passion for gladiatorial combat distinguished him from all previous emperors. While emperors traditionally sponsored games, they watched from boxes as benefactors and judges. Commodus entered the arena himself, fighting as a gladiator despite this being considered disgraceful for any citizen, let alone an emperor. He particularly favored the secutor style, battling retiarii (net fighters) and slaughtering exotic animals. Ancient sources describe him personally killing hundreds of beasts, including leopards, elephants, and rhinoceroses, often from the safety of elevated platforms.

These exhibitions were not private indulgences but public spectacles that Romans were compelled to attend and applaud. Commodus demanded recognition as the greatest gladiator in history, forcing the Senate to witness his performances and decree honors for his victories. He charged the state treasury enormous fees for these appearances, draining public funds for personal vanity. On one occasion, he allegedly killed a hundred bears in a single day. His final planned spectacle, scheduled for January 1, 193 CE, would have seen him inaugurate his consulship by emerging from the gladiators' barracks rather than the palace, definitively abandoning imperial dignity for arena glory.

### Assassination and Legacy

By late 192 CE, Commodus's erratic behavior and mounting paranoia had created powerful enemies. His chamberlain Eclectus, the praetorian prefect Laetus, and the emperor's mistress Marcia formed a conspiracy. According to ancient accounts, they first attempted to poison him on December 31, 192 CE, but when Commodus vomited up the poison, they sent the wrestler Narcissus to strangle him in his bath. Thus ended the reign of Rome's gladiator emperor at age thirty-one, preventing the humiliation of his planned consular inauguration from the gladiatorial barracks.

The Senate's reaction revealed the depth of their hatred. They immediately declared damnatio memoriae, ordering Commodus's name chiseled from inscriptions and his statues destroyed. Rome's name was restored, as were the original month names. His successor Pertinax reversed his policies and sold off Commodus's vast collection of gladiatorial equipment and exotic animals. Modern historians debate whether ancient sources exaggerated Commodus's madness, but the core portrait of a vain, cruel ruler obsessed with gladiatorial combat rather than governance seems accurate. His reign marked the end of the Antonine dynasty and plunged Rome into civil war. Edward Gibbon would later identify Commodus's accession as the beginning of Rome's decline, arguing that the empire's fate turned when Marcus Aurelius chose blood over merit in selecting his successor. Whether fair or not, Commodus became history's exemplar of the unworthy heir who squanders a great inheritance.