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COMMODUS, LUCIUS AELIUS AURELIUS (161...

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 777 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COMMODUS, See also:LUCIUS AELIUS AURELIUS (161-192) , also called See also:Marcus See also:Antoninus, See also:emperor of See also:Rome, son of Marcus Aurelius and See also:Faustina, was See also:born at See also:Lanuvium on the 31st of See also:August 161. In spite of a careful See also:education he soon showed a fondness for See also:low society and amusement. At the See also:age of fifteen he was associated by his See also:father in the See also:government. Oh the See also:death of Aurelius, whom he had accompanied in the See also:war against the Quadi and See also:Marcomanni, he hastily concluded See also:peace and hurried back to Rome (18o). The first years of his reign were uneventful, but in 183 he was attacked by an See also:assassin at the instigation of his See also:sister Lucilla and many members of the See also:senate, which See also:felt deeply insulted by the contemptuous manner in which Commodus treated it. From this See also:time he became tyrannical. Many distinguished See also:Romans were put to death as implicated in the See also:conspiracy, and others were executed for no See also:reason at all. The See also:treasury was exhausted by lavish See also:expenditure on gladiatorial and See also:wild beast combats and on the soldiery, and the See also:property of the wealthy was confiscated. At the same time Commodus, proud of his bodily strength and dexterity, exhibited himself in the See also:arena, slew wild animals and fought with See also:gladiators, and commanded that he should be worshipped as the See also:Roman See also:Hercules. Plots against his See also:life naturally began to See also:spring up. That of his favourite Perennis, See also:praefect of the praetorian guard, was discovered in time. The next danger was from the See also:people, who were infuriated by the dearth of See also:corn.

The See also:

mob repelled the praetorian guard, but the See also:execution of the hated See also:minister Cleander quieted the tumult. The See also:attempt also of the daring highwayman Maternus to seize the See also:empire was betrayed; but at last Eclectus the emperor's See also:chamberlain, See also:Laetus the praefect of the See also:praetorians, and his See also:mistress Marcia, finding their names on the See also:list of those doomed to death, See also:united to destroy him. He was poisoned, and then strangled by a wrestler named See also:Narcissus, on the 31st of See also:December 192. During his reign unimportant See also:wars were success-fully carried on by his generals See also:Clodius See also:Albinus, Pescennius See also:Niger and Ulpius See also:Marcellus. The frontier of See also:Dacia was success-fully defended against the Scythians and Sarmatians, and a See also:tract of territory reconquered in See also:north See also:Britain. In 1874 a statue of Commodus was dug up at Rome, in which he is represented as Hercules—a See also:lion's skin on his See also:head, a See also:club in his right and the apples of the See also:Hesperides in his See also:left See also:hand. See Aelius Lampridius, Herodian, and fragments in Dio See also:Cassius; H. See also:Schiller, Geschchte der romischen Kaiserzeit ; J. Ziircher, " Commodus " (1868, in Budinger's Untersuchungen zur romischen Kaisergeschichte, a See also:criticism of Herodian's See also:account); Pauly-Wissowa, Realencydopadie, ii. 2464 if. (von Rohden) ; Heer, " Der historische Wert See also:des Vita Commodi " (Philologus, Supplementband ix.).

End of Article: COMMODUS, LUCIUS AELIUS AURELIUS (161-192)

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