Emperor Commodus (180-192 AD) was a deranged and megalomaniac ruler who, more than ruling his empire, was obsessed with pretending he was Hercules and took part in rigged gladiator games, in which he was always made to be the winner.
Commodus created a cult around himself and towards the end of his reign, he held Plebeian Games, in which he shot hundreds of animals with arrows and javelins every morning, and fought as a gladiator every afternoon, winning all the fights. The gold coin of him glorifies him as a valiant and heroic hunter.
The Emesene King Sohaemus had been installed king of Armenia by Commodus’ grandfather, Antoninus Pius. He ruled Armenia from 144 to161, and then from163 to 186 AD.
When Commodus’ father Marcus Aurelius died, he became emperor. Soon after, king Sohameus was deposed by Parthian king Vologases IV, who put his son Vologases II as King of Armenia (186 – 191 AD).
Commodus did not bother raising a fuss about it. He was too busy playing Hercules. Sohaemus returned to Emesa with his son, the Armenian Prince, Julius Alexander, who had a reputation of being an expert hunter (bestiarius or “beast killer”) from his days in Armenia.
When his father died he couldn’t inherit the throne because Parthia had installed their king, therefore he continued to live with his cousins in Emesa.
The family tree shows that he was the first cousin of Julia Domna, who was the future wife of Emperor Septimius Severus and the future mother of Caracalla. All together his cousins were the women who bore ….. 4 Roman emperors!!
Julia Domna is known for her various beautiful hairstyles on her attractive coins minted during her marriage with emperor Septimius Severus. This coin’s reverse shows the moon-goddess LUNA LUCIFERA, (meaning “light-bringing moon”) with a crescent on her head and driving a two-horsed chariot (biga).
Some accounts mention that when Commodus visited Antioch, a hunt was organized in his honor. When he was told of a famous “bestiaries” (our Armenian prince) in Emesa, he was invited to participate.
When Alexander killed a lion with his javelin and earned praise, Commodus congratulated him but upon his return, in a jealous rage, sent waves of assassins to do away with him.
Alexander suspected these and killed them all, but more were dispatched until he realized the futility of it and decided to escape across the Euphrates to Parthia.
Alexander was an excellent horseman and could have escaped from Commodus’ hitmen, however, he didn’t want to leave his youthful male-lover behind.
On their escape route, Alexander was slowed down by his lover, who wasn’t as expert a rider as he was. When Roman assassins caught up with him before crossing the Euphrates, he and his lover committed suicide.
Soon thereafter a conspiracy to assassinate Commodus brewed in Rome. His mistress poisoned his food, but he vomited up the poison, so the conspirators sent his wrestling partner Narcissus to strangle him in his bath.
Upon his death, the Senate declared him a public enemy, and “damned” his memory (damnation memorial). He was the last emperor of the Antonine dynasty.
After Septimius Severus, the son of Julia Domna, Caracalla, became emperor, and we know him from his violence and senseless wars in Parthia and Armenia, where he imprisoned king Khosrov I (the son of the above-mentioned king Vologases II), but soon found his own abrupt and violent death in Armenia Minor in a roadside ditch while he was urinating…
(Image of frescoes courtesy of Gareth Harney’s Twitter account @ Optimo Principi)
