Emperor Commodus
Born on the 31st of August, 161 AD, Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus, later known as Commodus, was the Roman Emperor from 180 AD to 192 AD. He was the first Emperor to succeed his blood father since since Titus succeeded Vespasian in 79, and was also the first Emperor to be born “in the purple”, which means he was born during his father’s reign.
Commodus is largely considered one of the worser Emperors to have ruled the Roman Empire. Though he ruled for quite a long period of time, by the end of his rule, his own ego had back quite prevalent throughout the empire. Commodus had always placed emphasis on his own divine right. Numerous statues portraying him as Hercules were placed all over the empire, against the senate's wishes. Commodus also later claimed to be the son of jupiter, the representative of the supreme god of the Roman pantheon. His ego grew to megalomaniacal proportions, as evident in the way he celebrated his power. Rather than honour his descent from Marcus Aurelius, the actual source of his power, Commodus …show more content…
The Prima Porta, supposedly commissioned in 20 BCE depicts a young, fit looking Augustus, while in reality, at the time of the statutes creation, Augustus would have been a middle age man, who had spent his entire adult life fighting off rivals and threats to finally get where he was. He would never have looked so dashing.
Overall, these emperors and their works of art, tell us a lot about how Rome changed over the ages. Rome went through periods of calm and apparent peace with Emperors like Hadrian and Augustus , to times of turmoil with Emperors Caligula and Commodus who plunged Rome into periods of debt, drought, famine and war. These emperors show as much about themselves personally, as they do the period of time they lived in, through the works of they are represented
Born on the 31st of August, 161 AD, Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus, later known as Commodus, was the Roman Emperor from 180 AD to 192 AD. He was the first Emperor to succeed his blood father since since Titus succeeded Vespasian in 79, and was also the first Emperor to be born “in the purple”, which means he was born during his father’s reign.
Commodus is largely considered one of the worser Emperors to have ruled the Roman Empire. Though he ruled for quite a long period of time, by the end of his rule, his own ego had back quite prevalent throughout the empire. Commodus had always placed emphasis on his own divine right. Numerous statues portraying him as Hercules were placed all over the empire, against the senate's wishes. Commodus also later claimed to be the son of jupiter, the representative of the supreme god of the Roman pantheon. His ego grew to megalomaniacal proportions, as evident in the way he celebrated his power. Rather than honour his descent from Marcus Aurelius, the actual source of his power, Commodus …show more content…
The Prima Porta, supposedly commissioned in 20 BCE depicts a young, fit looking Augustus, while in reality, at the time of the statutes creation, Augustus would have been a middle age man, who had spent his entire adult life fighting off rivals and threats to finally get where he was. He would never have looked so dashing.
Overall, these emperors and their works of art, tell us a lot about how Rome changed over the ages. Rome went through periods of calm and apparent peace with Emperors like Hadrian and Augustus , to times of turmoil with Emperors Caligula and Commodus who plunged Rome into periods of debt, drought, famine and war. These emperors show as much about themselves personally, as they do the period of time they lived in, through the works of they are represented