Commodus was a bad dude. He's the emperor from Gladiator. He didn't kill his dad, like in the movie.

But he still had some noteworthy character flaws. He had this weird gladiator fixation. He would battle gladiators in the Coliseum,

but they'd let him win because if they beat him, they'd be crucified.

Now to his credit, Commodus didn't kill them.

He accepted their surrender.

Their wounds and scars were marks of honor.

Although he did round up anyone in Rome who happened to not

have feet and club them to death. He once killed a hundred lions in a single day.

If you're one of those people that got worked up

about that dentist that killed a lion a couple years ago, Commodus was way

worse and not even a dentist. Mixed record in governance. Not a lot of

wars, but he devalued the currency, which always bugs me.

Once, Commodus had two fellas, Maximus and Condianus, executed on the pretext that while they had not actually plotted against

him were the state, their wealth and talent no doubt made them jealous of the Emperor

so clearly they would at some point.

So let's imagine you could go back in time to the Roman, to the Roman Empire, during the reign of Commodus. You can be a time-traveler, speak

Latin. Go back to that era and talk to local Romans about civics. You materialize by the docks and you spot

a day laborer and you ask him, hey friend, how's government work around here?

Doc worker shrugs and he says, well, obviously the Emperor Commodus runs it, he runs everything. There are statues of the guy everywhere.

Haven't you noticed him? I heard he was recently promoted to a God. So he must be doing

a good job of Emperor Arring.

I mean the month we're in right now is named after him.

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