Marcus Aurelius spent a lifetime perfecting his philosophy of self-discipline and virtue. Then he left the empire to his son.
This Commodus canvas wall art features a dramatic portrait of Rome's gladiator emperor, part of the Bad Boys of Rome collection. A distinguished piece for the home, office, or classroom - and a compelling gift for history enthusiasts, classics lovers, and students of Roman power.
ABOUT COMMODUS (161 AD – 192 AD)
Lucius Aurelius Commodus was born the tenth of fourteen children to Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger on 31 August 161 AD - the same day, by coincidence, as Caligula. He was the only son to survive childhood, which made succession straightforward and placed an enormous weight on a boy who would prove thoroughly unsuited to carry it. Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor whose Meditations remains one of history's great works of Stoic wisdom, invested heavily in his son's education and brought him on campaign on the Danube frontier. None of it took in the way he had hoped.
When Marcus Aurelius died in 180 AD, Commodus became emperor at eighteen. His early decisions were not without merit - he negotiated a peace with the Germanic tribes that was reasonably favorable to Rome and ended nearly two decades of frontier warfare, returning a war-exhausted empire to stability. But he had no appetite for the grinding administrative work that had defined his father's reign, and he increasingly delegated governance to a succession of favorites while devoting himself to the arena. He fought as a gladiator in the Colosseum - always winning, against opponents carefully selected to lose - and identified himself publicly with Hercules, renaming Rome Colonia Commodiana and the months of the calendar after his own titles. The Senate regarded this with a mixture of horror and barely concealed contempt.
A failed assassination attempt in 182 AD, in which his own sister was implicated, accelerated his paranoia and the executions that followed. By 192 AD his inner circle - including his mistress Marcia - had concluded that their own survival required his removal. On 31 December 192 AD, after a poisoning attempt failed, the wrestler Narcissus was sent to strangle him in his bath. He was thirty-one.
Commodus is the emperor who most visibly embodies the paradox at the heart of Marcus Aurelius's reign - the greatest philosophical ruler Rome produced, undone by the one thing philosophy could not solve: the question of who came next.
PRODUCT FEATURES
- Available in 3 sizes in vertical orientation (300 dpi)
- Museum-quality printing with Greenguard Gold certified inks
- Non-toxic latex inks, safe and eco-friendly
- Made from FSC certified sustainable materials
- Anti-slip rubber dot backing to secure canvas when hung
- Wipe clean gently with a damp cloth if needed
- Arrives ready to hang