Commodus was obsessed with Hercules for, “He allowed statues of himself to be erected with the accouterments of Hercules;” . This obsession led him to act out of cruelty for he wanted power. His efforts to gain power consisted of disgracing and slaughtering others as well as torturing others for his own amusement. For example, “he put a starling on the head of one man who, as he noticed, had a few white hairs, resembling worms, among the black, and caused his head to fester through the continual pecking of the bird’s beak”. Commodus was an evil man that believed through his obsession of Hercules, that he was like a god. He had sacrifices done in his name and he sought out to execute a number of men to show his status. This obsession also led to questionable sexual acts, as he had in his company men that were named after both female and male sexual parts and he would give them kisses. He also forced people to complete embarrassing and demoralizing acts while naked. Such as when he made Julianus dance naked in front of others while “clashing cymbals”. These numerous acts of cruelty show just how evil Commodus was.
