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Short Biography
about the life of Commodus
Short Biography profile and facts about one of the most famous Romans of all, in the life of
Commodus, Emperor of Rome and provinces of the Roman Empire.
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Name commonly known as: Commodus
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Latin Roman Name: Lucius
Aurelius Commodus Antoninus
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Reigned as Roman Emperor /
Caesar: 177 – 17 March 180 (with Marcus Aurelius) and 18 March 180 -
31 December 192 (sole ruler)
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Dynasty / Historical Period:
Antonine
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Place and Date of Birth:
Commodus was born 31 August 161 at Lanuvium
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Name of previous Emperor: His predecessor or the Emperor before Commodus was
Marcus Aurelius(alone)
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Succeeded as Emperor of
Rome - circumstances of rule: Commodus was the son of Marcus
Aurelius
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Family connections / Genealogy
of Commodus
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Place and Date of Death:
Commodus died 31 December 192 (age 31) in Rome
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Name of next Emperor:
The successor to Commodus was
Pertinax
Interesting facts
about the life of Commodus
Obtain a fast overview of the times of the Roman Emperor
Commodus from the following facts and information about his life.
Why was Commodus famous? Accomplishments, achievements
and important events. The depraved Emperor Commodus
succeeded his virtuous father at the age of twenty. He had
been educated with great care, but was wholly given up to
coarse sensuality.
The Conspiracy of Lucilla against Commodus
The Romans, however, still hoped that he might be
worthy of his father, and received him, upon his accession,
with loud expressions of joy. From his earliest years he was
base and dishonourable, cruel and lewd and was completely
debauched. For a short time Commodus concealed his true
disposition. Lucilla was Commodus' elder sister, the wife of
Lucius Verus, and after his death, of Claudius Pompeianus.
And Lucilla knew that Commodus would be a cruel tyrant and
formed a conspiracy against him in A.D. 182. Commodus
escaped with difficulty from the hand of the assassin and
his sister was sent into exile to Capri. Commodus then had
Lucilla murdered. From this moment Commodus threw off all
disguise, and indulged his natural vices without restraint.
Commodus the Gladiator
Commodus put to death the most illustrious men of
the time, encouraged informers and false accusations and
filled Rome with absolute terror. In the midst of these
cruelties Commodus often sang, danced, or played the buffoon
in public. Commodus actually fought as a gladiator in the
circus. He procured chariot-horses for his own use and drove
chariots in the garb of a professional charioteer and lived
with gladiators. Commodus engaged in gladiatorial combats
and accepted the names usually given to gladiators with as
much pleasure as if he had been granted triumphal
decorations. Commodus regularly took part in the games and
spectacles and ordered his fights to be inscribed in the
public records and announced in the city-gazette. Such was
his prowess in the slaying of wild beasts, that he once
pierced an elephant with a pole, pierced a gazelle's horn
with a spear and killed mighty beasts with a single blow. It
is said that he engaged in gladiatorial bouts 735 times.
Commodus then ordered the people to worship him as a second
Hercules on the ground that he had killed wild beasts in the
amphitheatre. He allowed statues of himself to be erected
with the accoutrements of Hercules and sacrifices were
performed to him as to a god.
Commodus and his Reign of Terror
His depraved lifestyle continued and he had over
300 concubines. These women were taken form the nobility and
also the plebs. He enraged Romans by sitting in the theatre
or amphitheatre dressed in a woman's garments. Commodus
enjoyed inflicting pain and cruelty. He ridiculed a fat man
cutting open the middle of his belly, so that his intestines
gushed forth. Other men he dubbed one-eyed or one-footed,
after he himself had plucked out one of their eyes or cut
off one of their feet. There was no one willing to restrain
him and Commodus did as he pleased.
Commodus and the Empire
In A.D. 184 his lieutenant Marcellus defeated the
Caledonians, after they had passed the long wall of Hadrian,
and had ravaged the northern part of Britain. In A.D. 191 an
invasion of the Frisians was repelled. Commodus, however,
paid no attention to the affairs of the empire. In A.D. 189
Italy suffered from a pestilence and famine, when the people
of Rome rose against the emperor's Prefect, Cleander, and
tore him to pieces.
The Death of Commodus
Commodus continued his murders, and was at
last assassinated by the directions of his mistress, Marcia,
whose death he was plotting. Marcia was helped in the
killing of Commodus by Quintus Aemilius Laetus, prefect of
the guard. First they gave him poison; and when this proved
ineffective they had him strangled by the athlete with whom
he was accustomed to exercise. Commodus died on December
31st, A.D. 192. The Senate ordered his memory to be held
infamous, and his body to be dragged by iron hooks through
the streets, and then to be thrown into the Tiber. However,
his successor Pertinax insisted that the body of Commodus should be
placed in the mausoleum of Hadrian. He was, after all, the
son of Marcus Aurelius.
Antonine Dynasty
The Nervan and
Antonine dynasty consisted of the "Five Good Emperors" (Nerva,
Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius)
together with Lucius Verus, who ruled jointly with Marcus
Aurelius, and Commodus the son of Marcus Aurelius.
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