Commodus denarius

MKUltra24

I picked up this denarius of Commodus very recently and wanted to share it with you guys since you’ve all shared so many coins with me

I’ve always found Commodus to be one of the most interesting Roman Emperors even if he was a bad one.

He wasn’t cruel or sadistic like Nero nor was he inflicted with the curse of insanity like Caligula. He was a bad Emperor because he had no interest in doing the job of Emperor.

Commodus had two freedmen Saetorus and Cleander to whom he delegated most of his responsibilities while he lived an extravagant life doing what he wanted to do rather than fulfilling his duty & responsibilities.

Cleander eventually killed Saetorus in jealousy and began selling public offices to the highest bidder for his own profit. Eventually Cleander ended up causing a famine in Rome and the Roman mobs were calling on Commodus to give them Cleander’s head and mobs were waiting outside the palace ready to literally tear him to pieces.

Commodus granted their request and had Cleander executed.

He also fought as a Gladiator, something no Emperor had ever done, and something that deeply offended the Senate as gladiators were viewed as slaves and they found it insulting for the Emperor to fight as one.

While fighting as a gladiator he dressed up as Hercules and gave the impression that he was descended from the Gods but he did not fight fair and his gladiator opponents were given dulled blades to ensure the Emperor didn’t come to any harm.

In the end he was strangled to death by the gladiator Narcissus. Narcissus was a highly successful and undefeated gladiator who had originally been hired as his trainer to teach him to be a gladiator and in exchange Commodus granted Narcissus the “Rudiarius” (a wooden sworn given in honor to exceptional gladiators) and with that his freedom.

All in all Commodus’ reign was the beginning of the downfall of the Roman Empire and one has to wonder what on Earth was going through Marcus Aurelius’ head when he chose Commodus as his successor. Aurelius was not dumb or blind and even Commodus’ sister Lucilla knew he was not qualified to be Emperor when she tried (and failed) to assassinate him with the help of some of the senators whom Commodus had repeatedly offended.

asheland

You’re on a roll! Very cool. 😀
I have Faustina junior and senior. Ancients are cool. 👍

Sapyx

As with your Marcus Aurelius coin, this coin bears a reasonably precise date: "TRP V IMP III COS II" narrows it down to late AD 179 to early AD 180. So, just before his father died and he became sole Emperor.

As for "Why did Marcus Aurelius pick Commodus as his heir?" Well, I can think of two reasons. First, family. Commodus was the first biological son to inherit the Empire since Titus, a hundred years earlier; this must have been seen as desirable. Second, Commodus was popular with the army. Marcus Aurelius picking anyone else for the job would almost certainly have sparked a civil war, which Commodus would have likely won anyway with the numbers on his side. In short, the only way to prevent Commodus from becoming emperor would have been to kill him first, and Marcus Aurelius could not have brought himself to kill his only son.

Of course, most folks know Commodus as "the bad guy emperor from the Gladiator movie". A movie that got many details of gladiatorship correct, but got so many basic historical facts wrong in the name of "a good story", it might best be considered "alternate-history science-fiction" rather than "historical drama". No, emperor Marcus Aurelius did not want to see the emperorship abolished and the Republic restored. No, Commodus almost certainly didn't assassinate his father. Commodus reigned solo for twelve years, while the movie makes it seem less than a year. Commodus wasn't killed in the arena, he was murdered in the bath. And he wasn't succeeded by Lucilla's son Lucius Verus; in our universe, poor young Verus died in infancy, long before Commodus became emperor; Commodus was succeeded by Pertinax, a general who took part in the conspiracy to murder Commodus. And his death did not bring an era of peace joy and hope, but ushered in the chaos and civil strife that would go down in history as the Year of the Five Emperors.

MKUltra24

@Sapyx said:
As with your Marcus Aurelius coin, this coin bears a reasonably precise date: "TRP V IMP III COS II" narrows it down to late AD 179 to early AD 180. So, just before his father died and he became sole Emperor.

As for "Why did Marcus Aurelius pick Commodus as his heir?" Well, I can think of two reasons. First, family. Commodus was the first biological son to inherit the Empire since Titus, a hundred years earlier; this must have been seen as desirable. Second, Commodus was popular with the army. Marcus Aurelius picking anyone else for the job would almost certainly have sparked a civil war, which Commodus would have likely won anyway with the numbers on his side. In short, the only way to prevent Commodus from becoming emperor would have been to kill him first, and Marcus Aurelius could not have brought himself to kill his only son.

Of course, most folks know Commodus as "the bad guy emperor from the Gladiator movie". A movie that got many details of gladiatorship correct, but got so many basic historical facts wrong in the name of "a good story", it might best be considered "alternate-history science-fiction" rather than "historical drama". No, emperor Marcus Aurelius did not want to see the emperorship abolished and the Republic restored. No, Commodus almost certainly didn't assassinate his father. Commodus reigned solo for twelve years, while the movie makes it seem less than a year. Commodus wasn't killed in the arena, he was murdered in the bath. And he wasn't succeeded by Lucilla's son Lucius Verus; in our universe, poor young Verus died in infancy, long before Commodus became emperor; Commodus was succeeded by Pertinax, a general who took part in the conspiracy to murder Commodus. And his death did not bring an era of peace joy and hope, but ushered in the chaos and civil strife that would go down in history as the Year of the Five Emperors.

Thanks for your thoughts

Regarding Commodus being his son: The “Good” Emperors before him adopted their heirs so there wouldn’t be any issue with Marcus Aurelius adopting someone to serve as co-Emperor with Commodus like Lucius Verus and Antoninus Pius served as co-emperors. Then it could’ve tempered some of Commodus’s worst impulses.

Take a look at Tiberius for example. His grandson Gemmelus was supposed to be his heir (after Germanicus died) but Tiberius knew he was too young an inexperienced so he adopted Caligula and in his will declared for them to be co-Emperors.

Unfortunately Caligula had serious mental disorders from his childhood experience and ended up killing Gemmelus after his sickness.

But prior to that Caligula had adopted Gemmelus and named him as his own heir.

Yeah in one of my classical history classes we had to pick a historical film and find as many inaccuracies as we could and I chose “Gladiator”.

Marcus Aurelius certainly wasn’t killed by Commodus

Nor was Commodus killed in the arena. He was strangled by a gladiator named Narcissus in the bathtub.

But then again the movie Gladiator had the Germanic tribes wearing outfits from the Stone Age.

Like I said I don’t think Commodus was the cruel sadist he is often portrayed as in movies. Filmmakers seem to give Nero’s personality to Commodus.

I just think Commodus had zero interest in the duties & responsibilities of administering an Empire. Not to mention he was still a teenager. I’m sure even today if somehow you could pick a 16 year old and give them all power over everything most of them would be just like Commodus.

They’d use their power to do what they want and what they enjoy and would probably have zero interest in actually ruling and administering.

291fifth

If you want another movie to watch for historical errors try "The Fall of the Roman Empire" (1964). It also features Commodus being behind the death of Marcus Aurelius. Poor Commodus really needs someone to put a positive spin on his reign.