The Emperor Commodus
eBook - ePub

The Emperor Commodus

God and Gladiator

John S. McHugh

  1. 320 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Emperor Commodus

God and Gladiator

John S. McHugh

Book details
Table of contents
Citations

About This Book

This historical biography goes beyond popular legend to present a nuanced portrait of the first century Roman emperor. Commodus, who ruled over Rome from 177 to 192, is generally remembered as a debaucherous megalomaniac who fought as a gladiator. Ridiculed and maligned by historians since his own time, modern popular culture knows him as the patricidal villain in Ridley Scott's film Gladiator. Much of his infamy is clearly based on fact, but John McHugh reveals a more complex story in the first full-length biography of Commodus to appear in English. McHugh sets Commodus's twelve-year reign in its historical context, showing that the 'kingdom of gold' he supposedly inherited was actually an empire devastated by plague and war. Openly autocratic, Commodus compromised the privileges and vested interests of the senatorial clique, who therefore plotted to murder him. Surviving repeated conspiracies only convinced Commodus that he was under divine protection, increasingly identifying himself as Hercules reincarnate. This and his antics in the arena allowed his senatorial enemies to present Commodus as a mad tyrant—thereby justifying his eventual murder.

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Information

Publisher
Pen & Sword Military
Year
2015
ISBN
9781473871670
Topic
History
Subtopic
Roman Ancient History
Index
History

Table of contents

    Citation styles for The Emperor Commodus

    APA 6 Citation

    McHugh, J. (2015). The Emperor Commodus ([edition missing]). Pen and Sword. Retrieved from https://www.perlego.com/book/2446367/the-emperor-commodus-pdf (Original work published 2015)

    Chicago Citation

    McHugh, John. (2015) 2015. The Emperor Commodus. [Edition missing]. Pen and Sword. https://www.perlego.com/book/2446367/the-emperor-commodus-pdf.

    Harvard Citation

    McHugh, J. (2015) The Emperor Commodus. [edition missing]. Pen and Sword. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2446367/the-emperor-commodus-pdf (Accessed: 25 September 2021).

    MLA 7 Citation

    McHugh, John. The Emperor Commodus. [edition missing]. Pen and Sword, 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2021.