Mudlarker Finds Bronze Age Shoe on a UK Riverbank Dated 2,800 Years Old! Condianus and Maximus were executed on the pretext that while they were not implicated in any plots, their wealth and talent would make them unhappy with the current state of affairs. Later that year he adopted as his full style Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Augustus Herculeus Romanus Exsuperatorius Amazonius Invictus Felix Pius (the order of some of these titles varies in the sources). We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. Commodus was a greater curse to the Romans than any pestilence or any crime and the city had descended into bankruptcy and chaos. 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). The climax came in the year 190, which had 25 suffect consuls a record in the 1,000-year history of the Roman consulshipall appointed by Cleander (they included the future Emperor Septimius Severus). The film is based on real historical events, but . His body was buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian. 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. He negotiated a peace settlement in Romes favor. 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. after executing a double-sword beheading on an unfortunate opponent, delivering an iconic moment in movie and internet history. [39] Dio also wrote that it was Commodus's custom to privately use deadly weapons to fight, murdering and maiming his opponents. The real Commodus was also a gladiator superfan, and he really did get in the arena and fight people. Pompeianus retired from public life. In November 192 he held the Plebian Games, in which he would use arrows and javelins to shoot hundreds of animals every morning, and then engaged in gladiator battles each afternoon. When Commodus ordered for the death of Maximus and his family, the Romans could not reject that request. He took the throne as regent, but was killed by Maximus in the Colosseum. Aurelius pushed for Commodus to be a leader from a very young age. 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. Also, in Britain in 184, the governor Ulpius Marcellus re-advanced the Roman frontier northward to the Antonine Wall, but the legionaries revolted against his harsh discipline and acclaimed another legate, Priscus, as emperor. In addition to Galens medical attention and treatment, Commodus was also highly educated, with little focus on military training. Commodus (Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus, 31 August 161 - 31 December 192) was Roman emperor from 177 to 192. A small group of conspirators, including the emperors chamberlain and mistress, Marcia, decided to kill him. The executions of the senators had whet his appetite for blood and he devoted himself to combats of wild beasts and of men. Not merely content to hunt in private, the emperor began to perform in the Colosseum itself, competing as a gladiator to the delight of the crowds and horror of the senate, as depicted in Gladiator. After becoming emperor, Commodus spent his 12-year reign indulging in hobbies like gambling, drinking and chariot-racing, but his two greatest passions seemed to be sex and pretending to be a . 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. 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. Political influence then passed to the emperors mistress and two advisers. Did you realise that "Gladiator" was a revamp of the 1960's movie "THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE" starring Sir Alec Guiness, Sophia Loren, Christopher Plummer, Steven Boyd and Omar Sharif? The scene portrays the extent of Emperor Commodus malice and provides a realization of the vengeance sought by Maximus, following the crucifixion of his wife and child. It's fair to say the audience is pretty attached to Maximus by the end of "Gladiator." It's a great story of revenge but the character of Maximus is entirely made up. His reign is commonly thought of as marking the end of a golden period of peace in the history of the Roman Empire, known as the Pax Romana. Although he's very well written, Maximus is more of a plot device to allow the . Commodus did initially engage in some leadership-oriented activities, although not always in the favor of the Roman people. Conveniently, both of these goals are achieved by killing Commodus. In 192 AD, several senators, led by Praetorian prefect Quintus Aemilius Laetus, recruited Narcissus to assassinate the emperor after a previous failed attempt by the conspirators. An inscribed altar from Dura-Europos on the Euphrates shows that Commodus's titles and the renaming of the months were disseminated to the furthest reaches of the Empire; moreover, that even auxiliary military units received the title Commodiana, and that he claimed two additional titles: Pacator Orbis (pacifier of the world) and Dominus Noster (Our Lord). However, even these favorites were not safe from his fury. Cleander was in fact the person who had murdered Saoterus. Commodus : The general who became a slave. But since "Gladiator" is based on a true story (sort of), we can look at history to see what might have happened next. Narcissus (born 2nd century A.D.) was a Roman athlete,[1][2] likely a wrestler,[3] from the 2nd century AD. In hindsight, he should have kept the tradition of adopting his successor, which would have resulted in an appointment based on merit. He was appointed co-emperor of Rome and ruled alongside his father when he Marcus Aurelius is famed for various accomplishmentshis title as the last of the Five Good Emperors; his extensive study of and literary accomplishments in the field of Stoicism; and, last but not Long bouts of bad weather have been blamed as a cause for the downfall of ancient civilizations around the world. Gladiator movie clips: http://j.mp/1Je0zMpBUY THE MOVIE: http://amzn.to/v7o2YKDon't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u2y6prCLIP DESCRIPTION:Afte. It appeared that he had no interest in being a leader, and only wanted to take advantage of his leadership powers to fulfill his own desires. Commodus was succeeded by Pertinax, whose reign was short-lived; he would become the first claimant to be usurped during the Year of the Five Emperors. By 192 A.D., the Roman people had had enough. Gladiator is clearly influenced by aspects of history, but its specific storyline is definitively imaginative. Nowadays Commodus is best remembered as the villain of Ridley Scott's movie "Gladiator", a sneering and arrogant portrayal by Joaquin Phoenix. View GLADIATOR - CHW3M.docx from HIS CHW3M at Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts. He assassinated the Roman emperor Commodus in 192 AD. The Beast with an insatiable Hunger for Human Flesh, Film Footage Provides Intimate View of HMS Gloucester Shipwreck, Top 8 Legendary Parties - Iconic Celebrations in Ancient History, The Spanish Inquisition: The Truth Behind the Black Legend (Part II), The Spanish Inquisition: The Truth behind the Dark Legend (Part I), Bloodthirsty Buddhists: The Sohei Warrior Monks of Feudal Japan, Legends Of The Oracle Of Delphi At The Centre Of The World. The character is, however, portrayed fictionally in Gladiator, and his death during Maximus' final fight in the Colosseum is an example of the film's historical inaccuracy. The ending of "Gladiator" makes it seem like Commodus' death means a new beginning for Rome. "De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families", Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, "Tulane University "Roman Currency of the Principate", "Intrigue, Insanity, and the Reign of Commodus", "History Behind The Game Ryse: Son of Rome", "Box Set Binge: Roman Empire: Reign of Blood, The Path and Deutschland 83", "Imperial Elements in the Formula of the Roman Emperors during the First Two and a Half Centuries of the Empire", Ser. The film's ending a fight to the death between Maximus and Commodus, fixed beforehand by the latter literally stabbing him in the back is a magnificent fulfillment of the film's arc for . Anyone who caught the emperors attention risked also inadvertently invoking his wrath. [30] On his father's death in 180, Commodus changed this to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Commodus, before changing back to his birth name in 191.[1]. so Romans had no choice but to obey Commodus. In the same year, Pertinax unmasked a conspiracy by two enemies of Cleander Antistius Burrus (one of Commodus's brothers-in-law) and Arrius Antoninus. [7], He was looked after by his father's physician, Galen,[8][9] who treated many of Commodus's common illnesses. The poison failed, so Narcissus entered Commodus's bedchamber. Maximus is given a very clear ending, but what about the rest of Rome? Aurelius himself, and the four emperors that had preceded him, had all been adopted. They then sent in an athlete to strangle the 31-year old emperor in his bath. Unlike Maximus, they all let him win, letting him injure them to a non-fatal degree and then conceding, per LA Times. A bust of Roman Emperor Commodus, styled as if he were a reincarnation of Hercules, which is precisely what he believed himself to be. At the end of June, a mob demonstrated against Cleander during a horse race in the Circus Maximus: he sent the Praetorian Guard to put down the disturbances, but Pertinax, who was now City Prefect of Rome, dispatched the Vigiles Urbani to oppose them. Commodus was a secutor, a type of gladiator who carried a gladius and a heavy shield. Upon his ascension, Commodus devalued the Roman currency. Commodus subsequently accompanied his father on a lengthy trip to the Eastern provinces, during which he visited Antioch. 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. When Marcia found a list of people Commodus intended to have executed, she discovered that she, the prefect Laetus and Eclectus were on it. 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. Maximus : You would fight me? In December, he announced his intention to inaugurate the year 193 as both consul and gladiator on 1 January. His father was Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius , and his mother was Faustina the Younger. One of the two praetorian prefects, Publius Tarrutenius Paternus, had actually been involved in the conspiracy but his involvement was not discovered until later on, and in the aftermath, he and his colleague, Sextus Tigidius Perennis, were able to arrange for the murder of Saoterus, the hated chamberlain. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Commodus. 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