Commodus (Lucius Aelius Aurelius) Emperor from 180-192.
Commodus was a megalomaniac, who fancied himself a son of Jupiter He fought many times as a gladiator in the Arena, but it is thought that his victories were more due to his opponents not wanting to be the guy that offed the Emp, than any great skill on the part of Commodus.
He was married, but I can't remember just off-hand his wifes name, and he had a series of mistresses, the most important of which was Marcia.
Actually, Commodus was, for most of his reign, a rather popular Caesar, whose eccentricities we probably regarded with a bit of amusement by his subjects.
Towards the end of his rule, though, he went from charmingly squirrely to downright nutty: He renamed the months of the calendar, the country, the city and several other things after himself.
The real kicker, however, was at the end of his tenure. Power in the Empire had passed into the hands of his mistress, a couple of prefects, and the Chamberlain.
Commodus, not to be outdone, decided that he would assume the office of Consul. He decided to do this on Jan 1, 193--which would have been all well and good--but he decided to do it in his gladiatorial armour and in the barracks of the gladiators in the Colloseum.
This was a wee bit too fruity for the citizens of Rome, and more importantly, for his mistress and her buddies.
On the night of Dec 31, 192, Marcia and her cohorts had him killed. Some accounts have him strangled in his bedchamber and others say he got drowned in the bath.
Anyhoo, before the body was cold, the grateful Senate proclaimed Pertinax (city prefect) Emperor of Rome. Matter-of-fact, he was Emperor before the imperial guard woke at dawn that morning.
LawDog
(I am looking forward to seeing this movie this weekend.)
[This message has been edited by LawDog (edited May 10, 2000).]
