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cahnI'm trying to use my other account at least occasionally so I posted about my Yuletide gifts there, including the salon-relevant 12k fic that features Fritz, Heinrich, Voltaire, Fredersdorf, Saint Germain, Caroline Daum (Fredersdorf's wife), and Groundhog Day tropes! (Don't need to know canon.)
Re: Imperial Succesions :II
Date: 2023-01-14 04:43 pm (UTC)LOL, yes. Mind you, even ancient historians wrecked their heads about this one. Commodus was actually the very first Emperor "born to the purple", i.e. during his father's reign. (When Titus and Domitian were born, Vespasian was anything but Emperor, remember, and everyone else got to the throne via adoption until this point.) But there are no "evil kid" anecdotes about his childhood; Marcus Aurelius gave him a plethora of teachers so the lad would have a first class education, and also wasn't an absent dad, taking the boy on campaigns and culture trips like the one to Athens were they were both initiated to the mysteries of Eleusis. Now the movies, both the old Fall of the Roman Empire (Marcus Aurelius: Alec Guinness; Commodus: Christopher Plummer) and the more recent Gladiator (Marcus Aurelius: Richard Harris; Commodus: Joacquin Phoenix), who kill off Marcus Aurelius early on and place a fictional general in the focus of their story with whom Marcus Aurelius' daughter Lucilla falls in love, have Marcus Aurelius see through Commodus and intending to adopt the fictional general instead, though dying before he can do that. (Gladiator even has Commodus off his Dad.) But that never happened. Late ancient historians (i.e. writing about a century and a half later), and this is something Fall of the Roman Empire also does, even provide a story where Commodus isn't really Marcus Aurelius' son but that of a gladiator his mother supposedl had an affair with. All so to explain how on earth the son of everyone's favourite philosopher on the throne (sorry, Fritz, but the author of Meditations wins over the author of The Anti Machiavel) became such a rotten cad, and why his father didn't see it and/or prevent it.
(The movies in terms of explanation offer Commodus having Daddy issues due to Dad preferring Fictional Good General and being disappointed Commodus isn't like him. But as I said, there was no such person in reality, and Marcus Aurelius gave no sign of wanting to adopt any of the various generals who rose through the ranks during his reign and whom he liked in varying degrees - who btw included Septimius Severus.)
I do find Duncan's argument that the alternative to signalling Commodus as the Chosen One would have been killing Commodus or risk civil war - pretty convincing, I must admit. Marcus did his best to shape his son into a good future Emperor during his life time, and if there were signs, he probably hoped it was just phase that would pass.
To show just how nuts Commodus did become, though, let me quote Wiki: In opposition to the Senate, in his pronouncements and iconography, Commodus had always stressed his unique status as a source of god-like power, liberality, and physical prowess. Innumerable statues around the empire were set up portraying him in the guise of Hercules, reinforcing the image of him as a demigod, a physical giant, a protector, and a warrior who fought against men and beasts. Moreover, as Hercules, he could claim to be the son of Jupiter, the supreme god of the Roman pantheon. These tendencies now increased to megalomaniacal proportions. Far from celebrating his descent from Marcus Aurelius, the actual source of his power, he stressed his own personal uniqueness as the bringer of a new order, seeking to re-cast the empire in his own image.
During 191, the city of Rome was extensively damaged by a fire that raged for several days, during which many public buildings including the Temple of Pax, the Temple of Vesta, and parts of the imperial palace were destroyed.
Perhaps seeing this as an opportunity, early in 192 Commodus, declaring himself the new Romulus, ritually re-founded Rome, renaming the city Colonia Lucia Annia Commodiana. All the months of the year were renamed to correspond exactly with his (now twelve) names: Lucius, Aelius, Aurelius, Commodus, Augustus, Herculeus, Romanus, Exsuperatorius, Amazonius, Invictus, Felix, and Pius. The legions were renamed Commodianae, the fleet which imported grain from Africa was termed Alexandria Commodiana Togata, the Senate was entitled the Commodian Fortunate Senate, his palace and the Roman people themselves were all given the name Commodianus, and the day on which these reforms were decreed was to be called Dies Commodianus.
Thus, he presented himself as the fountainhead of the Empire, Roman life, and religion. He also had the head of the Colossus of Nero adjacent to the Colosseum replaced with his own portrait, gave it a club, placed a bronze lion at its feet to make it look like Hercules Romanus, and added an inscription boasting of being "the only left-handed fighter to conquer twelve times one thousand men".
And yes, after he killed the Senate declared him a Public Enemy and passed the damnatio memoriae over him. (While there were five successive Emperors duking it out until Septimius Severus had won for good.)
How he died: Supposedly his favourite mistress, Marcia, discovered she was about to become his dead ex mistress along with some other about to be discarded favourites (he'd done that kind of thing before), and conspired with them against him. She poisoned him; he vomited it up. She then called his favourite wrestling partner, Narcissus, who strangled Commodus in his bath.
Re: Imperial Succesions :II
Date: 2023-01-16 05:53 am (UTC)AHAHAHAHA
...yeah.
(I haven't read it, see also even more terribly underread in this area than in others, but I'd heard of one of these before salon and not the other.)
I do find Duncan's argument that the alternative to signalling Commodus as the Chosen One would have been killing Commodus or risk civil war - pretty convincing, I must admit. Marcus did his best to shape his son into a good future Emperor during his life time, and if there were signs, he probably hoped it was just phase that would pass.
That makes sense, along with absolute power at a young age maybe being a bad idea for lots of people...
How he died: Supposedly his favourite mistress, Marcia, discovered she was about to become his dead ex mistress along with some other about to be discarded favourites (he'd done that kind of thing before), and conspired with them against him. She poisoned him; he vomited it up. She then called his favourite wrestling partner, Narcissus, who strangled Commodus in his bath.
This is reminding me of the relevant subplot in the Josephus third book. Though I suppose maybe all it says is that once you discard enough people by killing them, you can't be surprised when a few of them decide that maybe they ought to band together and act first.