Commodus: How the Gladiator Emperor Really Died

The movie gave Commodus a noble death in the arena. The real one was stranger.

Commodus ruled Rome and fought in the arena himself, shooting animals with a bow. He cast himself as the god Hercules, and in 192 he renamed Rome the colony of Commodus. In December he announced that he would begin the year 193 as both consul and gladiator.

Then his mistress Marcia found a list of people he meant to have executed, and her name was on it, along with two of his advisors. The three plotted against him. Old histories say they tried poison first. When that failed, they sent in his wrestling partner, Narcissus, who strangled him in his bath on December 31, 192. Commodus was 31.

The senate backed a new emperor, Pertinax, but the empire soon slid into civil war.

Watch the short story: Commodus: How the Gladiator Emperor Really Died on Aha Lantern.

Source: Wikipedia, Commodus.

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