1. Commodus EMPEROR OF THE DAY: Reign: 177 - 192AD “Achievements”:
modelled himself on Hercules
came after “Five Good Emperors”
destroyed his predecessors’ good works

2. THE
BUST OF COMMODUS
The Clip from Gladiator called Commodus_Senators is a good introduction for the character of Commodus

3. Certain months were renamed in his honour by his flatterers; for August they substituted Commodus, for September Hercules, for October Invictus, for November Exsuperatorius, and for December Amazonius, after his own surname.
He was called also the Roman Hercules, on the ground that he had killed wild beasts in the amphitheatre the Lanuvium; and, indeed, it was his custom to kill wild beasts on his own estate.
He had been called Amazonius, moreover, because of his passion for his concubine Marcia, whom he loved to have portrayed as an Amazon, and for whose sake he even wished to enter the arena of Rome dressed as an Amazon.
He had, besides, an insane desire that the city of Rome should be renamed Colonia Commodiana… And in truth, on the occasion when he laid before the senate his proposal to call Rome Commodiana, not only did the senate gleefully pass this resolution, but also took the name "Commodian" to itself, at the same time giving Commodus the name Hercules, and calling him a god.
He struck with his club, while clad in a woman's garment or a lion's skin, not lions only, but many men as well. Certain men who were lame in their feet and others who could not walk, he dressed up as giants, encasing their legs from the knee down in wrappings and bandages to make them look like serpents, and then despatched them with his arrows.
Primary Sources on Commodus as Hercules

4. Date: 190AD
Height: 1.18m
Material: Marble
Style: Antonine Baroque
What influenced this style? Greek portraiture showing ideal/perfect form.
Historical Background:
Son of Marcus Aurelius
Reign AD
Rule marked by vicious brutality
Destroyed achievements of 5 Good Emperors – civil war followed.

5. Commodus imitates the demi-god Hercules
Why?
Wanted to be seen as a strong leader with the same qualities (eg strength, courage, fighting skill, immortality)
Appealed to his vanity

6. Symbolism
Hercule’s lion skin
Hercule’s club
Apples of Hesperides

7. Symbolism Cornucopeia (horns of plenty) Globe
Shield with gorgon’s head
Cornucopeia
(horns of plenty)
Amazon
Globe

8. Style – Antonine Baroque

9. Is this some kind of a joke?
“The smooth and effeminate Emperor, with his weak arms, his flaccid feeble face and over barbered hair ... the lion-scalp and club … in that tenuous manicured hand, is a delicate but brutally expressive charade” - M. Wheeler

10. IDEALISM AND VERISM