Commodus was a very evil man, and according to the text, it seems as though he enjoyed torturing and killing people. Commodus seems to be obsessed with becoming a god or as powerful and as strong as one, it is visible in his statue with the lion over his head and a bat in his hand. This is evident when he started allowing statues of him dressed as Hercules to be put up and worshiped. He then started worshiping Isis and forced devotees of her to harm themselves even to the point of death at times. He also renamed one of the months Hercules and appointed someone to the priesthood of the Rural Hercules, which was a private cult he was in.
To be perceived as powerful, Commodus would torture, killing and embarrass others. Commodus cast anyone who spoke against him to be eaten by a beast (most likely lion). He also killed a man because he read a book that was written by some who had the same birthday as him. He also put birds on a greying man’s head so that the birds would peck at it thinking it was worms. The text also states that it is claimed that he mixed human feces with lavish foods and ate it. lastly, he made his praetor Julianus dance naked in front of his mistresses while clashing cymbals.
