Commodus

Commodus became co-emperor at 16 in 177, the youngest to hold the title, serving under his father Marcus Aurelius during the Marcomannic Wars and tours of the Eastern provinces. When he took sole power in 180, the military campaigns quieted but the palace turned volatile: conspiracies multiplied, and Commodus leaned harder into autocracy, delegating daily governance to a rotation of chamberlains and praetorian prefects — Saoterus, Perennis, Cleander. He performed in the Colosseum as a gladiator and fashioned a deific personality cult around himself. On the last day of 192, the wrestler Narciss…