Stand-off between Commodus and Maximus
You may have heard of the gladiator-obsessed Roman Emperor Commodus (reign 180-192 AD) made infamous in the movie Gladiator.
Read sections 9-11 of the Life of Commodus in Lampridius’s biography Historia Augusta.
Write a 100-word interpretation of the Roman portrait bust of Commodus as Hercules (see below), making references to Lampridius’s biography.
Commodus as Hercules
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Commodus might not be as bad as we perceive when you watch the movie Gladiator, he seems like a crazy man who kills his father and leads Rome to hell because he does not know what he is doing. He doesn’t follow support this senate and he didn’t seem to care about what they had to tell him but, it was just a movie and it is meant to show the bad side of people. After reading parts of the “life of Commodus”, I saw that he did a lot of killing. I think the bust of Commodus as Hercules can relate to him because they were both warriors.
Concordo totalmente a causa di le idee espresse ancora. Andate avanti in questo modo.
Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus, the son of Marcus Aurelieus, was born in 161 and ruled from 180 to 192. The only son to survive until childhood, he was given the name Commodus in honor of Marcus Aurelius’ co-emperor. He claimed a relationship to Hercules and ordered many statues representing him as Greek hero. After I watched the movie, I saw that Crowe portrays the loyal Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed when the Emperor’s ambitious son murders his father and seizes the throne. Reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murder of his family and his Emperor.
Commodus is a cruel tyrant who is full of himself. The sculpture says it all. He thinks he is Hercules who is one of the strongest heroes in Greek myth. He thinks he is a strong man by wearing a lion skin around himself when he committed many cruel acts and killed many of his own people for his own amusement. He is also self-centered by making his people worship him like they worship their gods.
Commodus is a cruel tyrant who is full of himself. The sculpture says it all. He thinks he is Hercules who is one of the strongest heroes in Greek myth. He thinks he is a strong man by wearing a lion skin around himself when he committed many cruel acts and killed many of his own people for his own amusement. He is also self-centered by making his people worship him like they worship their gods.
Commodus is a cruel tyrant who is full of himself. The sculpture says it all. He thinks he is Hercules who is one of the strongest heroes in Greek myth. He thinks he is a strong man by wearing a lion skin around himself when he committed many cruel acts and killed many of his own people for his own amusement. He is also self-centered by making his people worship him like they worship their gods.
I believe that Commodus was a horrible person but maybe just not as bad as they portray him to be in the movie Gladiator. Although after reading the bibliography I realized how sick he was with all those killings and his cocky image of himself, I still believe the movie over-exaggerated his evilness. Nevertheless, the bust of him being portrayed as Hercules makes sense due to the fact that he was so cocky and he wanted people to see him as that. He wanted to be seen as the most powerful both by rule and by body, and he wants to be seen as a hero ho is wealthy due to his coat made of lion skin, perhaps this is why he allowed it. His cocky alter-ego got in his way, which maybe is also one of the reasons why he was so evil.
Commodus used to carry the statue of Annubi in his hand “He practised the worship of Isis and even went so far as to shave his head and carry a statue of Anubis.” He also used to hit the devoteed of isis’s heads with this statue: “While he was carrying about the statue of Anubis, he used to smite the heads of the devotees of Isis with the face of the statue.” Additionally, he usually hurt people wearing his lion skin costum. “He also used to hurt people wearing his lion skin. He struck with his club, while clad in a woman’s garment or a lion’s skin,not lions only, but many men as well.” I am not sure about what the statue is carring in his right hand, but it most be some weapon. I believe Comodus wanted to express how a ruler he was by wearing a lion skin because lions are the kings of the animal kingdom. It also means that he obviously had no pitty for animals (which is not meaningful compared to his other terrible actions). By reading his bibliography, one realizes that commodus garments and objects illustrate his cruelty acts and arrogance.