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17 March AD 180
Marcus Aurelius dead, Commodus emperor
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The death of Marcus Aurelius in AD 180 brings his son Commodus to power
and marks the end of the period of the 'Five Good Emperors' (Marcus Aurelius,
Antoninus Pius, Hadrian, Trajan and Nerva). Commodus, whose reign is characterised
by plots and assassination attempts, becomes one of the most notorious
of all emperors. He leads a life of utter debauchery
and insists on being deified by the Senate as a living god. He likes to
think of himself as Hercules and goes around dressed in a bearskin and
wielding a club. He renames the months of the year in his own honour.
And he even appears in the arena, shocking respectable Roman society as
he takes part in hundreds of staged fights; on one occasion, he is said
to have killed 100 tigers in an afternoon.
'If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world,
during which the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without
hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the
accession of Commodus.'
Edward Gibbon
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