Commodus (Latin:Imperator Caesar Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Augustus Pius Felix Sarmaticus Germanicus Maximus Britannicus) (August 31, 161 – December 31, 192) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 180 to 192. Like Caligula, Nero and Domitian, his image is that of a cruel and bloodthirsty emperor. His death opened a period of crisis known as the second year of the four emperors.
The reign of Commodus
His reign put an end to the era of the "five good emperors", of the Antonine dynasty. He is the son of Marc Aurelius and Faustina the Younger, descendant of Emperor Antoninus Pius. He is the only porphyrogenetic emperor of this dynasty, that is to say born in the imperial purple and not adopted1. His father, Marcus Aurelius, is also often mistakenly considered as such, although he was adopted by Antoninus Pius – at a very young age, however. Rumors claim that Commodus would not be the son of Marcus Aurelius but of that of Faustina and one of her lovers, in particular a gladiator who had relations with her2. Indeed his mother is described by Roman sources (essentially Dion Cassius and the Histoire Auguste, which must be read with caution) in an unflattering light; unfaithful, she cheats on her husband with sailors, pantomime actors and gladiators. She seems to have a lot of attraction for the latter kind of men and when she attends the games in the Colosseum, the slanderers say that the fights are bloodier than normal. These public rumors were born as early as the reign of Commodus, probably due to his bad reputation and the passion of the imperial couple for the games of the amphitheater.
Commodus is associated with power from 166 as Caesar. However, events precipitated his rise to power:it was following the revolt of Avidius Cassius that he received the title of Augustus on January 1, 1774, which gave him full imperial powers alongside his father. It is therefore logical that he was acclaimed by the army and recognized by the Senate when Marcus Aurelius died in 180, on the Danube border of the empire. Meanwhile in 177, he had married Crispina, repudiated and banished in 188 to Capri, where she would later (in 191) be murdered on her personal order.
After a few months of military campaigns to complete the operations in progress, Commode decides to return to Rome to present himself to the plebs and ensure his power. This decision is often presented as ill-considered by Roman historiography:Commodus attracted by Rome and its pleasures would have botched the peace, dishonoring the empire and preparing disappointments at the borders. Such a judgment, present in Herodian as in the Augustan History, is however exaggerated. Indeed, contemporary historical research shows that borders have not been abandoned or neglected. On the other hand, Commodus, a young emperor lacking legitimacy, perhaps felt the need to consolidate his power in the most prestigious place of the empire:his capital.
After several months of apparent good relations with the Senate and the greatest figures of the empire, a crisis upsets the situation. In 182, Commodus was the target of an assassination attempt resulting from a senatorial plot, carried out with the complicity of his sister, Lucilla, and possibly a praetorian prefect. After a major political purge intended to punish this attack and prevent others, a climate of mutual distrust developed between the emperor and the senators; it is exacerbated throughout the reign, reaching its climax in the last three years. Consequently, Commodus relied on a limited number of relatives and favourites, reinforcing the bitterness of the Senate and exposing himself to severe criticism:an isolated emperor, cut off from the most prestigious aristocracy, he was presented by the senatorial historiography as an irresponsible, cruel and debauched tyrant (this historiography exaggerates in particular when it says that he maintains a harem of six hundred girls and minions caught up in good society, while frequenting brothels5), vices which are attributed to him from childhood, by the History Auguste6.
Commodus initially relied on the praetorian prefect Tigidius Perennis, until a plot put an end to the power of the latter, who may have sought to eliminate the emperor7. From 185 to 189, Commodus was influenced by the freedman Cleandre, whom he trusted more than his praetorian prefects. Faced with a reign deemed tyrannical and bloodthirsty, the senatorial aristocracy, decimated and flouted, resorted to conspiracies which all failed but exacerbated the conflict8.
Commodus favors the plebs and the army and spends considerable sums on donations and food distributions. In 189, when the wheat ran out, perhaps as a result of a plot, he allowed the mob to massacre the prefect of the annona Papirius Dionysius and the prefect of the praetorium Cleandre. It institutes an edict of the maximum to stabilize prices, and also seeks to increase the influx of African wheat to complement Egyptian wheat. At the same time, Rome was affected by a pestilential disease, perhaps a return of the Antonine plague. On the external level, in 180 he signed a peace treaty with the Marcomanni, according to which the latter regularly owed cereals, weapons and recruits, in order to supply the auxiliary troops of the army9. He thus gradually put an end to the Marcoman wars.
The last years of the reign saw Commodus innovate and excessively exalt his power:he gradually renamed all the institutions, changed the names of the months and even renamed Rome Colonia Lucia Annia Commodiana. Such novelties must be judged very severely by senators. His megalomania[ref. necessary] nevertheless won him the favor of the plebs, when, organizing games on many occasions, he descended into the arena to defeat gladiators and wild beasts. This taste for the macabre games of the amphitheater explains the thesis advanced by certain Roman historians, hostile to his memory, according to which he was the son of a gladiator (in the same way as certain texts say of Diocletian that he was the son of a clerk because of his administrative reforms).
He never knew defeat, and identified himself with Hercules by having himself represented on coins bearing lion skins and a club.
The last years of the reign are still marked by purges, in particular against those close to him, Commodus perhaps fearing that they were candidates for empire and that they were seeking to overthrow him. Conversely, other characters take advantage of the situation, like Pertinax who becomes prefect of the City, reaching the most prestigious post of a senatorial career and who then seemed very appreciated by Commodus. Our sources [Which?] speak of numerous attempts on his life which failed, but on December 31, 192, the slave Narcissus, training him in the use of weapons, strangled him in his bath when he had resisted an attempt of poisoning, the result of a plot led by his praetorian prefect, Laetus, his chamberlain, Eclectus, and his concubine Marcia. The latter were indeed threatened with falling into disgrace and therefore decided to take the lead.
Emperor considered cruel and arbitrary, he was not deified at his death by the Senate, but received, like Nero or Domitian, the damnatio memoriae (condemnation of memory). Septimius Severus attempts a limited rehabilitation since on certain inscriptions he is described as "brother of Commodus" in order to attach himself, in fact, to the ancient Antonine dynasty and establish his legitimacy. To please the people and the army who loved Commodus, Septimius Severus forced the Senate to deify Commodus.
It is Pertinax, the prefect of the City, an elderly and prestigious character, who takes power immediately after the death of Commodus, perhaps in application of a premeditated plan. His assassination a few months later precipitated the empire into civil war:Didius Julianus controlled Rome, after having "bought" the vote of the Praetorians, while Pescennius Niger claimed power in the East, Clodius Albinus in Brittany and Septimius Severus (who finally prevails) in Pannonia.