Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus

Commodus

 in full Caesar Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus orig. Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus

Commodus as Hercules, marble bust; in the Capitoline Museum, Rome.

(credit: Anderson—Alinari/Art Resource, New York)

(born Aug. 31, 161, Lanuvium, Latium—died Dec. 31, 192) Roman emperor (AD 177–92). He ruled with his father, Marcus Aurelius, until the latter's death in 180; recalled from the frontier, Commodus plunged into a life of dissipation in Rome. After his sister tried to have him killed (182), he executed the senators involved and began ruling capriciously. His brutality stirred unrest that ended years of Roman stability and prosperity. He renamed Rome Colonia Commodiana (“Colony of Commodus”). Physically impressive, he claimed he was Hercules and performed as a gladiator. His mistress and advisers had him strangled, ending the Antonine dynasty.

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Commodus, Lucius Aelius Aurelius 

Born in 161 in Lanuvio; died in 192 in Rome. Roman emperor from 180 to 192; the last emperor of the Antonine dynasty.

Commodus ruled along with his father, Marcus Aurelius, from 176 to 180. He persecuted the senators and confiscated their property. He generously rewarded his supporters—praetorians and soldiers. Commodus’ extravagance, including his arrangement of games in the circus, in which he played the role of gladiator, exhausted the treasury. Discontent arose among the troops in Britain, Germany, and Dacia, who were not paid as well as those stationed in Rome. Opposition grew especially strong when Commodus, conceiving himself as the Roman Hercules and the son of Jupiter, demanded that he be worshiped as divine. He was assassinated by court conspirators.