She has earned Read More. Commodus murders his father (Richard Harris) to gain power, orders the death of war hero Maximus (Russell Crowe) in order to circumvent any possible challenge to his rule, puts the moves on his. Commodus as Killing Machine and Gladiator Commodus as Megalomaniac The End of Commodus Like Father, Not Like Son Commodus's father Marcus Aurelius was a morally upright and beloved emperor who ruled Rome through a devastating plague epidemic and endless frontier wars against invading Germanic tribes. Sister of Trajan's father: Giacosa (1977), p.7. Commodus was made coruler when he was just 16 years old, and he was emperor before he turned 19. Commodus, who is portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, was indeed the son of Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) and an emperor of Rome. Upon his fathers death in 180, Commodus became the sole emperor. War broke out in Dacia: few details are available, but it appears two future contenders for the throne, Clodius Albinus and Pescennius Niger, both distinguished themselves in the campaign. But wait, wasn't Commodus killed by a Gladiator? The film stars Russell Crowe as General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is forced into the life of a gladiator after his family is murdered by the Emperor's son, Commodus. [33] Cassius Dio and the writers of the Augustan History say that Commodus was a skilled archer, who could shoot the heads off ostriches in full gallop, and kill a panther as it attacked a victim in the arena. Watching him collapse and die after restoring his own freedom and ridding Rome of its Tyrant in Chief seems like, well, a downer. According to Aurelius, Commodus received his educational training with "an abundance of good masters.". Heinz, W. (1986). In the famous words of noted historian Dio Cassius, Commoduss lack of interest in political affairs was the starting point for the decline of the Roman Empire, leaving Commodus responsible for initiating Romes decline "from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust. Marcus Aurelius died there on 17 March 180, leaving the 18-year-old Commodus as sole emperor.[18]. He reduced the weight of the denarius from 96 per Roman pound to 105 per Roman pound (3.85grams to 3.35grams). In the contest, Maximus is a victim of foul play as Commodus preemptively wounds him, then later produces a blade. The film is based on real historical events, but . The ending of "Gladiator" makes it seem like. Pescennius Niger mopped up the deserters in Gaul in a military campaign, and a revolt in Brittany was put down by two legions brought over from Britain. While the true story behind his reign and death are fascinating, I prefer the fictional story, where he is killed in the arena before thousands of subjects by a gladiator whose family was ordered killed by the emperor. The film portrays a fictionalized account of historical events, and it illuminates aspects of the culture of ancient Rome. In 186 he further reduced the purity and silver weight to 74percent and 2.22grams respectively, being 108 to the Roman pound. A small group of conspirators, including the emperors chamberlain and mistress, Marcia, decided to kill him. Commodus reign is commonly regarded as the beginning of the Roman Empires decline, and he is a natural choice for the primary antagonist of Gladiator. Meanwhile, Commodus was lapsing into insanity. Aside from the manner of his death in Gladiator, Commodus' onscreen depiction has a few other historical reworkings that help add spice to the plot, although some changes serve to tone down the character. In 186 he had his chief minister executed in order to appease the army; three years later he allowed the ministers successor to be killed by a rioting crowd. During his solo reign, the Roman Empire enjoyed reduced military conflict compared with the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Claudius M. Appius Atilius Bradua Regillus Atticus, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commodus&oldid=1137878630, Commodus is a minor antagonist in the 2005 video game, Commodus appears as one of the antagonists in the popular young adult fiction novel series, dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships, G. Alfldy, "Der Friedesschluss des Kaisers Commodus mit den Germanen,", P. A. Brunt, "The Fall of Perennis: Dio-Xiphilinus 79.9.2,", J. Gag, "La mystique imperiale et l'preuve des jeux. At the outset of his reign, Commodus, aged 18, inherited many of his father's senior advisers, notably Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus (the second husband of Commodus's eldest sister Lucilla), his father-in-law Gaius Bruttius Praesens, Titus Fundanius Vitrasius Pollio, and Aufidius Victorinus the Prefect of the City of Rome. The Death of Commodus, from a history book published in 1900. Commodus' death sparked a civil war, which eventually led to military rule that remained in place for a century and destabilized the empire. Maximus : You would fight me? Cookies help us deliver our Services. After a failed assassination attempt in 182, however, his rule became erratic and brutal, and he imagined himself to be Hercules. While fighting in the arena, opponents would submit to Commodus, as emperor, and their lives were spared. Commodus: The general who became a slave. Die ''Terme Taurine'' von Civitavecchia ein rmisches Heilbad. He wanted to avenge the deaths of his wife and son, as well as clear the way for the Senate to restore order in Rome. After those attempts on his life, Commodus spent much of his time outside Rome, mostly on the family estates at Lanuvium. Jack is a feature writer for Screen Rant. Cassius Dio recorded one incident where, after becoming tired out, Commodus ordered a cup of chilled wine to him and drank it at one gulp. In an amusing anecdote, Dio continued, At this both the populace and we senators all immediately shouted out the words so familiar at drinking-bouts, Long life to you!'. Marcus Aurelius. Cleander proceeded to concentrate power in his own hands and to enrich himself by becoming responsible for all public offices: he sold and bestowed entry to the Senate, army commands, governorships, and increasingly, even the suffect consulships to the highest bidder. Ivar the Boneless: Viking Warrior, Ruler and Raider, What is Shambhala? [44] Dio notes that the targeted senators actually found this more ridiculous than frightening, and chewed on laurel leaves to conceal their laughter. His brutal misrule precipitated civil strife that ended 84 years of stability and prosperity within the empire. In December, he announced his intention to inaugurate the year 193 as both consul and gladiator on 1 January. Commodus lunged at the Senator. By 192 A.D., the Roman people had had enough. The Carnac stones are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites around the French village of Carnac, in Brittany, consisting of more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany. Gracchus and Commodus stared evenly at eachother, with mutual hatred. It worked and the Nerva-Antonine dynasty which had ruled Rome for nearly a century had come to an end and the city soon descended into civil war. He then returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph for the conclusion of the wars on 22 October 180. Muller Edition 1.15.7, Echols, Edward C. "Herodian of Antioch's History of the Roman Empire." Unlike Commodus, Maximus isn't driven by a desire for power but by loyalty to "the true emperor" whom Commodus murdered and to his family. In one final act of madness, Commodus ordered the head of the Colossus of Nero to be replaced with his own and added the inscription the only left-handed fighter to conquer twelve times (as I recall the number) one thousand men.. The emperor Titus Flavian completed the Colosseum and endeared himself to the public with his generosity only to have his good works undone by his brother Domitian, who was assassinated by his own court. Commodus never killed his gladiatorial adversaries, instead accepting their surrenders. Commodus is commonly regarded as being an inadequate and megalomaniacal emperor, but Gladiators distortion of history portrays him as exclusively and resolutely evil. "Back!" he cried. Commodus (Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus, 31 August 161 - 31 December 192) was Roman emperor from 177 to 192. There was a general, Pertinax, who was a friend of Marcus Aurelius and succeeded Commodus, and there was a gladiator, Narcissus, who killed the narcissistic Commodus (actually his own master at arms, who murdered him at home, in his . Ser. This rumor was further fueled by Commodus love for engaging in gladiator battles as an adult, which led to speculation that his father was indeed a gladiator with whom Faustina had an affair. Maximus is a powerful Roman general, loved by the people and the aging Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Husband of Salonia Matidia: Levick (2014), p. 161. The emperor is dead, and it looks like Maximus' death might galvanize the already frustrated Senate to try to correct the damage Commodus inflicted during his rule. Lucilla was over ten years his senior and held the rank of Augusta as the widow of her first husband, Lucius Verus. ( Naughtynimitz/CC BY-SA 3.0 ). On 12 October 166, Commodus was made Caesar together with his younger brother, Marcus Annius Verus. The Syrian-born gladiator, who rose to fame under the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117 to 138 A.D.), is best known for the length of his career, and for being awarded his freedom four times . Conveniently, both of these goals are achieved by killing Commodus. Ridley Scott's Gladiator famously kills off Maximus (Russell Crowe) at the end, but the original plan for the ending was very different. Papirius Dionysius was executed, too. All Action 473K subscribers 86K 11M views 1 year ago #Gladiator #RidleyScott #AllAction Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) challenges Maximus (Russell Crowe) in combat in the hopes of killing him. It is uncertain whether Rupilia Faustina was Frugi's daughter by Salonia Matidia or another woman. So superlatively mad had the abandoned wretch become that he renamed Rome Colonia Commodiana (the Colony of Commodus) and changed the names of the months to each reflect one of the many epithets he had bestowed upon himself. Wikimedia CommonsA bust of Roman Emperor Commodus, styled as if he were a reincarnation of Hercules, which is precisely what he believed himself to be. The fall of Perennis brought a new spate of executions: Aufidius Victorinus committed suicide. But now, the people want to know how the story ends. In 195, the emperor Septimius Severus, trying to gain favour with the family of Marcus Aurelius, rehabilitated Commodus's memory and had the Senate deify him. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. When Commodus ordered for the death of Maximus and his family, the Romans could not reject that request. This assassination attempt was successful, and both Commodus reign as Roman Emperor, and his life, ended on the final day of 192. But shortly after dispatching the megalomaniacal emperor, Maximus succumbs to his own injuries and dies in the blood and sand of the ring although not without making sure his fellow gladiators are freed first. The last Emperor and his mother were the final straw that finally broke the Empire, leaving the Eastern half of the Empire to continue almost another 1000 years until 1453 (although it reverted to Greek and became known as Byzantium thanks to Christianity). But once Marcus Aurelius died in 180 A.D. (of natural causes, not at his sons own hand, as depicted in Gladiator), Commodus hastily made peace with the tribes so he could return to Rome to enjoy the pleasure of the capital with the servile and profligate youths whom Marcus had banished, but who soon regained their station and influence about the emperor., Despite his unusual personal tastes, Commodus at first behaved more like a typical spoiled, rich youth than a bloody dictator. His death, however, was the result of an assassination plot in 192, culminating with Narcissus killing him in the bath. During the preparations for the campaign against Cassius, Commodus assumed his toga virilis on the Danubian front on 7 July 175, thus formally entering adulthood. Ulpius Marcellus was replaced as governor of Britain by Pertinax; brought to Rome and tried for treason, Marcellus narrowly escaped death. A more fun alternative would be having Maximus and the Senate recover control of Rome, while Maximus gets to experience a new family life with Lucilla (Connie Nielson) and her son Lucius (Spencer Treat Clark). [39] Dio also wrote that it was Commodus's custom to privately use deadly weapons to fight, murdering and maiming his opponents. It appears that Aurelius was desperate to have a son of his own bloodline succeed him. His great simplicity, however, together with his cowardice, made him the slave of his companions, and it was through them that he at first, out of ignorance, missed the better life and then was led on into lustful and cruel habits, which soon became second nature."[26]. Wikimedia CommonsEmperor Commodus lust for power is widely credited with bringing an end to the fabled Pax Romana. He is based in the UK and studied English at Kings College London. Whereas the reign of Marcus Aurelius had been marked by almost continuous warfare, Commodus's rule was comparatively peaceful in the military sense, but was also characterised by political strife and the increasingly arbitrary and capricious behaviour of the emperor himself. It's fair to say the audience is pretty attached to Maximus by the end of "Gladiator." [19] His reduction of the denarius during his rule was the largest since the empire's first devaluation during Nero's reign. 1. Roman Emperor Lucius Aurelius Commodus was a corrupt ruler who was not well-received by the Roman people during his reign. Sources diverge on the origins of the conspiracy, with some claiming Lucilla was jealous of Commodus wife Crispina (incest between Commodus and Lucilla is suggested in Gladiator) while others maintain she saw the first warning signs of her brothers mental instability. In the story of Gladiator, the Roman general Maximus is betrayed by the evil Emperor Commodus. Commodus was inaugurated in 183 as consul with Aufidius Victorinus for a colleague and assumed the title Pius. When Marcia found a list of people Commodus intended to have executed, she discovered that she, the prefect Laetus and Eclectus were on it. [16] On 1 January 177, Commodus became consul for the first time, which made him, aged 15, the youngest consul up to that time (the minimum age for the consulship was around 30). His family is murdered, and he becomes a slave, and then sold off to become a gladiator. He is a particular fan of works by Stanley Kubrick, Wes Anderson, and Martin Scorsese. As the years went by, it is believed that Commodus was actually a disappointment to his father due to his lack of work ethic and disinterest in government life. Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree. The pivotal 2000 historical drama follows the betrayed general, Maximus, on a quest for revenge against Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the usurper emperor of Rome, who murdered his wife and son. Joaquin Phoenix's character is bad news, but he doesn't quite have the same unhinged level of megalomania as his real-life counterpart. [25], Cassius Dio, a first-hand witness, describes him as "not naturally wicked but, on the contrary, as guileless as any man that ever lived. Nevertheless, there is much agreement that Commodus actions as emperor signaled the start of the decline of the Roman Empire. One of the ways he paid for his donatives (imperial handouts) and mass entertainments was to tax the senatorial order, and on many inscriptions, the traditional order of the two nominal powers of the state, the Senate and People (Senatus Populusque Romanus) is provocatively reversed (Populus Senatusque). 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