Groomed from birth to become emperor, Commodus takes power at age 18 after the death of his father, Marcus Aurelius. Entirely uninterested in the affairs of state, his reign would be characterized by intrigue, scandal, and corruption- culminating in his assassination at the hands of his closest allies. Bibliography Amon, Hermann. The Roman Empire Third Century Crisis. Brill, 2026 Ando, Clifford. Imperial Rome, AD 193 to 284: The Critical Century. Edinburgh University Press, 2012. Brown, Peter. The World of Late Antiquity. AD 150-750. W.W. Norton & Company, 1989. Bowman, Alan K., Peter Garnsey, and Averil Cameron. The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol 12, The Crisis of Empire, A.D. 193-337. Cambridge University Press, 2008. Dio, Cassius. The Roman History. Translated by Earnest Cary and Herbert B. Foster. Vol. 1-9. Loeb Classical Library and Harvard University Press, 1924. Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 1-3. Alfred A. Knopf, 1993 Harper, Kyle. The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease and the End of an Empire. Princeton University Press, 2017. Herodian. History of the Roman Empire: From the Death of Marcus Aurelius to the Accession of Gordian III. Translated by Edward C. Echols. University of California Press, 1961. Lewis, Naphtali and Reinhold, Meyer. Roman Civilization: Selected Readings. Vol. II, Columbia University Press, 1990. Potter, David S. The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180-395. Routledge, 2004. Southern, Pat. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine. Routledge, 2001. Cover Image: Detail of the ‘Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus.’ Dated to 250-260 CE, currently on display in the Museo Nazionale Romano. Opening Theme: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 by Antonín Dvořák. Closing Theme: Movement II of “Pines of Rome.” Composed by Otto Respighi. Recording of 1959 performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Fritz Reiner.
