Emperor Commodus Strangled: Rome's Decline Begins

Commodus was strangled in his bath by a wrestler named Narcissus on December 31, 192 AD, ending a twelve-year reign that historians regard as the beginning of Rome's long decline. Born in 161, the son of the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius, he was the first emperor in nearly a century to have been born to a ruling emperor, and expectations for his reign were enormous. He disappointed them catastrophically. His obsession with gladiatorial combat led him to fight in the Colosseum personally, slaughtering wounded gladiators and exotic animals in staged combats designed to make him appear heroic. He renamed Rome "Colonia Commodiana" and the months of the year after his own titles. He identified himself with Hercules and had statues erected depicting himself in a lion skin. His megalomania extended to governance: he delegated administration to a series of favorites and praetorian prefects while he spent his time in the arena, and the resulting corruption and instability eroded the institutional framework that Marcus Aurelius had preserved. His assassination was organized by his closest associates, including his concubine Marcia, his chamberlain Eclectus, and the praetorian prefect Quintus Aemilius Laetus, all of whom had discovered their names on a list of people Commodus intended to execute. Narcissus, his wrestling partner, was recruited to do the actual killing after a first attempt by poisoning failed when Commodus vomited the tainted wine. His death triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, a succession crisis that produced civil war and demonstrated how dependent the Roman system had become on the character of individual rulers.