How Commodus was Conceived


Commodus in 'Gladiator' (played by Joaquin Phoenix)

Commodus was one of the most sadistic, cruel and self-indulgent Roman emperors. To add to all this, he was also extremely bad at governance, like Caligula and Nero before him. He was widely hated and was strangled by his bath attendant in A.D. 192, contrary to the popular film 'Gladiator', which shows him dying in the arena (in which he did however fight very often).

The story of his conception is perhaps equally as loathsome as his personality and traits. He was the son of the emperor Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina. Apparently, one day Faustina saw a gladiator in the arena, who aroused an immense passion in her. She became obsessed. Juvenal tells us:

"Faustina, daughter of Antoninus Pius and wife of Marcus Aurelius, having seen the gladiators pass one day, conceived the most violent love for one of them; and this passion having made her ill for a long time, she confessed it to her husband. Chaldeans whom Marcus Aurelius consulted, said that it was necessary that this gladiator should be killed and that Faustina should bathe in his blood and afterwards lie with her husband. When this advice had been followed, the empress's passion was in fact spent, but she brought into the world Commodus, who was more of a gladiator than a prince."




Commodus, dressed as Hercules, his hero

Comments

Daldianus said…
Just wanted to tell you that I think your site is very interesting! These historical backstories are fascinating :)

This is sure to get bookmarked.
Sunday, 29 May, 2005
Anna said…
Oh thank you so much! I love it when people share my fascination with these lesser known facts of history. :-))))

Thanks,
A.
Sunday, 29 May, 2005
Daldianus said…
It's really neat that somebody takes the time to present these lesser known facts. I've made your site a link recommendation on mine and added you to my list of links.

Have a nice day!
Monday, 30 May, 2005
Anna said…
I have added you to my list of links on my blog as well. Thanks for your support and I hope you keep enjoying what I write about! :-))))

Take care,
A.
Monday, 30 May, 2005
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Catherine the Great and her Many Lovers

Image
Catherine the Great was empress of Russia from 1762 until she died in 1796. She was born in 1729 in Poland and in 1744 was taken to Russia to marry the young Grand Duke Peter, heir to the throne and not of a sane mind. For seven years during their marriage Peter spent his time playing with toy soldiers and dogs and showed no interest in sex. In fact he had a physical disability, a very tight foreskin, which may have played an important part in that matter. Finally the empress Elizabeth gave Catherine the permission to take a lover, which she did and was soon pregnant. She convinced Peter it was his own child, as was the plan anyway. In the meantime he had been circumcised so that he could perform the sexual act. Catherine developed a taste for young soldiers. She had a special area built in her bedroom, which was curtained off and where she received her lovers. Gregory Orlov was her on and off lover for around thirteen years. He was said to possess excellent equipment, unbelievable ‘st...
Read more

Emperor Elagabalus; the Teenage Pervert

Image
When the emperor Caracalla was murdered in 217, the fourteen-year-old Elagabalus succeeded him. He only ruled for 4 years, but in that short period of time he commited a variety of grotesque and debauched acts, enough to make Caligula and Commodus seem rather plain. His real name was Bassianus but as he developed an intense interest in worshippng the Syrian god Elagabal, became High Priest of the cult and so had his name changed to Elagabalus. To honor his god, he demanded that hundereds of cattle were slaughtered daily on huge sacrificial altars. He had a temple built on the Palatine Hill and ordered the Romans to worship a statue of a giant phallus, which didn't go down very well at all... Eventually he decided he was the god embodied. He started to wear women's clothes and make-up, implored his surgeons to cut his penis off and make him a vagina and when they said tehy could not do this he settled for circumcision. His body is said to have been very effeminate and he had a m...
Read more

The Smelly Woad Dyers

Image
Woad leaves Before Indigo was imported from the East in the 16th Century, the only source of rich blue dye was Woad, Isatis Tinctoria, a plant which is a member of the cabbage family and which was brought to Britain by the Celts. They called it Glasto, hence Glastonbury, which means ‘a place where woad grows’. The process by which the dye was extracted was lengthy and very smelly indeed, (think combination of raw sewage and rotten cabbage) and the people who did this work, woad dyers, were outcasts of society, since they smelt so much. As a result they were isolated and inbred. There was no way of hiding if you were a woad dyer as even if you washed yourself really well to remove the stench, the blue dye could be seen on your fingers and under your fingernails. Queen Elizabeth I, not being able to stand the stench from their workshops, decreed that woad dyers should be at least 5 miles away from wherever she was staying. As it took 50 kilos of woad in order to produce 5 kilos of pigme...
Read more