Evil Commodus

After reading the “Life of Commodus” I got a basic view of Commodus as an evil and power hungry emperor. He was passionate about killing and showing off his creative ways of torturing people. As described in the text, the cut a man in a half, or poke an eye. He even used to mix excrements with expensive food… He really was a mad and out of control man. On top of it all he thought of himself as a god, particularly Hercules. He even spread the news of being a son of Jupiter (just like Herkules). In the Historia Augusta, Commodus already had presented his weird and murderous behavior. Whoever “ridiculed him, he cast to the wild beast”. As a ruler of Rome, he even renamed its name as Commodiana, and  months were named in his honour. He liked to have his statues and portraits available to the public, so that people could admire him as a handsome god, “brother” of Hercules. As presented on the statue, he has a good athletic, strong body. Covered with the skin and head of the lion on him, just as gladiators and Hercules used to. He also loved to fight and present himself as an gladiator. That is why the movie “Gladiator” pictures him that “well”.