Editing Commodus (section)

===Commodus the gladiator===
Commodus also had a passion for gladiatorial combat, which he took so far as to take to the [[arena]] himself, dressed as a [[secutor]].<ref>Gibbon, Edward, ''The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire''. Vol. 5. Methuen, 1898.</ref> The Romans found Commodus' gladiatorial combat to be scandalous and disgraceful.<ref>Herodian's Roman History F.L. Muller Edition 1.15.7</ref> According to Herodian, spectators of Commodus thought it unbecoming of an emperor to take up arms in the amphitheater for sport when he could be campaigning against [[barbarians]] among other opponents of Rome. The consensus was that it was below his office to participate as a gladiator.<ref>Echols, Edward C., "Herodian of Antioch's History of the Roman Empire", English translation, UCLA Press, Berkeley, CA (1961), 1.15.1-9</ref> Popular rumors spread alleging he was not actually the son of Marcus Aurelius, but of a gladiator his mother Faustina had taken as a lover at the coastal resort of [[Caieta (city)|Caieta]].<ref>''Historia Augusta'', Life of Marcus Aurelius, XIX. The film ''The Fall of the Roman Empire'' makes use of this story: one of the characters is an old gladiator who eventually reveals himself to be Commodus's real father.</ref>

Cassius Dio claimed that citizens of Rome who lacked feet (either through accident or illness) were taken to the arena, where they were tethered together for Commodus to club to death while pretending they were giants.<ref>Dio, Cassius, 73.20.3, Loeb edition, translated E. Cary</ref> Dio also wrote that it was Commodus' custom to privately use deadly weapons to fight, murdering and maiming his opponents.<ref name="Dio, Cassius, 73.10.3">Cassius DIO, 73.10.3</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2017-12-01 |title=Intrigue, Insanity, and the Reign of Commodus |url=https://www.wondriumdaily.com/intrigue-insanity-reign-commodus/ |access-date=2022-06-09 |website=Wondrium Daily |language=en-US |archive-date=26 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526054623/https://www.wondriumdaily.com/intrigue-insanity-reign-commodus/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Commodus was also known for fighting exotic animals in the arena, often to the horror and disgust of the Roman populace. According to Cassius Dio, Commodus once killed 100 lions in a single day.<ref>Gibbon, p. 106: "disgorged at once a hundred lions; a hundred darts"</ref> Later, he decapitated a running ostrich with a specially designed dart<ref>Gibbon, Edward, ''The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'': Volume I. Everyman's Library (Knopf) New York. 1910. p. 106: "with arrows whose point was shaped in the form of a crescent"</ref> and afterward carried his sword and the bleeding head of the dead bird over to the Senators' seating area, and motioned to suggest that they were to be next.<ref name=foxcomm>[[Robin Lane Fox|Lane Fox, Robin]], ''The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian'', Basic Books, 2006, p. 446 "brandishing a sword in one hand and bloodied neck...He gesticulated at the Senate."</ref> Dio notes that the targeted senators actually found this more ridiculous than frightening, and chewed on [[Laurus nobilis|laurel]] leaves to conceal their laughter.<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/73*.html Roman History by Cassius Dio] penelope.uchicago.edu</ref> On other occasions, Commodus killed three elephants on the floor of the arena by himself,<ref>Scullard, H. H., ''The Elephant in the Greek and Roman World'', Thames and Hudson, 1974, p. 252</ref> and a giraffe.<ref>Gibbon, p. 107: "*1 Commodus killed a camelopardalis or giraffe&nbsp;... the most useless of the quadrupeds".</ref>

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File:The Emperor Commodus Leaving the Arena at the Head of the Gladiators by American muralist Edwin Howland Blashfield (1848-1936) 01 (cropped).jpg|''The Emperor Commodus Leaving the Arena at the Head of the Gladiators'' (detail) by [[Edwin Blashfield]] (1848–1936), Hermitage Museum and Gardens, Norfolk, Virginia.
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