Commodus was a vile person. He wanted to gain power but the things he did was really cruel. He killed a lot of people just for fun and by their looks. 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 – the bird, of course, imagining that it was pursuing worms.” He would also cut open a corpulent person down the middle of their belly so the intestines would be gushing out and murdered someone that looked noble and handsome. Commodus was evil and selfish, he wanted to show his power to everyone but he used his power in the wrong way because of all the people he killed. The bust of Commodus as Hercules portrait shows lion skin wrapped on his head and chest. It shows him holding a weapon in one hand and fruits in the other. The lion is a symbolism of power. According to the reading it says, “He engaged in gladiatorial combats, it is said that he engaged in gladiatorial bouts seven hundred and thirty-five times.” The weapon may represent his gladiatorial combats.
