Commodus, in full Caesar Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus, original name (until 180 ce) Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus (born August 31, 161 ce, Lanuvium, Latium [now Lanuvio, Italy]—died December 31, 192) Roman emperor from 177 to 192 (sole emperor after 180). His brutal misrule precipitated civil strife that ended 84 years of stability and prosperity within the empire.
In 177 Lucius was made coruler and heir to his father, the emperor Marcus Aurelius (reigned 161–180). Lucius joined Marcus in his campaign against invading German tribes along the Danube, but after the death of Marcus (March 180) he quickly came to terms with the Germans.
Soon after he became sole ruler, Lucius changed his name to Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus. In 182 Commodus’s sister Lucilla conspired with a group of senators to assassinate him. The plot failed, and Commodus retaliated by executing a number of leading senators. Thereafter his rule became increasingly arbitrary and vicious. In 186 he had his chief minister executed in order to appease the army; three years later he allowed the minister’s successor to be killed by a rioting crowd. Political influence then passed to the emperor’s mistress and two advisers.
Meanwhile, Commodus was lapsing into insanity. He gave Rome a new name, Colonia Commodiana (Colony of Commodus), and imagined that he was the god Hercules, entering the arena to fight as a gladiator or to kill lions with bow and arrow. On December 31, 192, his advisers had him strangled by a champion wrestler, following his announcement the day before that he would assume the consulship, dressed as a gladiator. A grateful Senate proclaimed a new emperor—the city prefect, Publius Helvius Pertinax—but the empire quickly slipped into civil war.
Commodus was not the hard worker and self-denying soldier that his father had been. He managed governmental affairs poorly, including selling government offices to the highest bidder. He was a disappointment to Romans. He disliked anyone who reminded him of his failure to live up to his father's moral standards or who reminded him that in his youth he had tried to pursue virtue. Like Nero, he tried to win popularity in public performances. He entered the arena, wearing animal skins or elaborate costumes that many thought too feminine. There he stabbed or clubbed animals to death to the applause of the crowd, while many who were not applauding thought that he was demeaning his position as emperor.
Emperor Marcus Aurelius, philosopher
His no-good son, Emperor Commodus
Emperor Severus, killed would-be opponents
Son of Serverus, Emperor Caracalla, had some citizens of Alexandria slaughtered because they had ridiculed him – not the kind of thing that happens in a democracy.
Commodus allowed his Guard in Rome and soldiers elsewhere to be abusive toward civilians. Concerned about opposition from military governors, he had their children cared for under his custody – in effect hostages. He had an enemies list of those he planned to execute, but others got to him first. He was assassinated twelve years after having succeeded his father.
The Senate then chose one of their own as emperor, Pertinex, who was assassinated after eighty-seven days. Another Senator, Julianus, bribed his way to a Senate declaration as emperor. Whenever Emperor Julianus appeared in public the Romans jeered him. When news of what was happening in Rome reached the military-governors in the provinces, a number of them became interested in replacing Julianus, and four years of civil war between rival military commanders followed
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