Extract
[...] This religious violence was accompanied by a systematic political intimidation. In the accusations brought by the Senate, Commodus was qualified as 'enemy of the gods' and 'torturer of the Senate', and some of his opponents were 'dragged like gladiators into the spoliaire', highlighting that imperial power was exercised by fear and humiliation. Dion Cassius adds that the simple fact that statues were erected for him with the attributes of Hercules and that he was worshiped as a living cult constituted already a sacrilege in the eyes of the Romans attached to religious traditions. [...]
[...] Violences and condemnation A. Political Terrors Dion Cassius describes Commodus as an emperor whose presence inspired extreme fear: 'Commodus, for the Romans, was more to be feared than all diseases and all sorceries.' This fear was translated into concrete and arbitrary acts intended to maintain his authority through terror. For example, he would have executed senators or members of his family for trivial reasons, or forced certain nobles to commit suicide under the pretext of imaginary plots, establishing a climate where one never knew what could provoke imperial anger. [...]
[...] However, Commodus has passed into posterity as often being considered one of the worst emperors in Roman history, sometimes compared to Caligula or Nero. Marked by plots and an attempted assassination by those close to him at the beginning of his reign, his principate would have deeply shocked his contemporaries with a series of political violence and eccentricities that transgressed the codes of imperial dignity. These behaviors are recounted in the two texts we are about to study. The Historia Augusta The Historia Augusta is a series of biographies of Roman emperors and usurpers, the author or authors of which are unknown. [...]
[...] This symbolic remodeling serves to assert a power presented as unique, sacred and uncontested. II. Dignité impériale bafouée C. Combat of gladiator, mise en scène Commodus is sometimes nicknamed the gladiator emperor, he has been fascinated by the circus games since childhood and puts himself on stage in the arenas to demonstrate his power. He is seen, for example, beheading ostriches or fighting in obviously rigged battles. These games allow Commodus to show himself to the people and be appreciated by them, but this goes against the image that an emperor should convey, traditionally he is a spectator of the games, not an actor. [...]
[...] Both sources draw a largely unfavorable portrait of Emperor Commodus, and relating as the title of the subject indicates his eccentricities, but also his megalomania, his violence, humiliations, and his condemnation to damnatio memoriae by the Senate as a punishment. Thus, from these two documents, we will ask ourselves: how do the two sources use the eccentricities of Commodus depicted in his portrait to justify his posthumous condemnation? We will answer this question in three parts, first, we will focus on the megalomania of Commodus described in the two works, then we will talk about the dignity of the imperial office being trampled, and finally, we will see the violence and condemnations in the last part. [...]
