Ahhay and welcome to Emperor of Rome a podcast about the rulers of the ancient Roman Empire.

I'm your host Matt Smith and with me today is Dr.

Rianna Evans, a senior lecturer in ancient Mediterranean studies at Latrobe

University. This is episode LXVI. It's good to be the king. We've heard that

Commodus took a hands-off approach to ruling Rome, but what was he doing with all that

three time?

It turns out quite a lot.

Comatists redefined what it meant to be an emperor.

On one hand debasing himself by fighting against the lower classes in the arena. and on the other elevating himself to the level of a God and hero.

He's Rianna Evans.

The impression we're given of Commodus by all of the ancient sources is that he was entirely interested in indulging his own pleasure and not interested in any of the formalities of administration.

And so they tend to concentrate when they talk about his character

on the way that he entertained himself

and what that engaged in was

explicit about because they don't need to say it,

but it means what he engaged in was sort of low status activities,

which should have been far beneath him.

But it goes beyond that though though because we kind of have an

impression in our head at the moment for people who have been listening to

Emperors of Rome from episode I onwards that Nero bad emperor,

Caligula bad emperor, Domitist kind of leaves them all

behind in his dust.

...