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What was the impact of Commodus on Rome

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Marcus Aurelius and his predecessors had cultivated a good relationship with the Senate. They had secured the cooperation and support of the senatorial elite. Commodus rejected his predecessors’ policy and after been proclaimed Emperor he side-lined the senators He taxed them very heavily and this was regarded by many as an attempt to impoverish and weaken the senatorial elite, permanently. As his paranoia grew he ordered the death of senators without even a treason trial <ref> Historia Augusta, Life of Commodus, 6, 1</ref> . This had not been done since the reign of Caligula. The successor of the great Stoic Emperor who esteemed the Senate treated the institution with contempt. Commodus wanted to be an absolute ruler, and this was to set a trend in Roman government. His treatment of the traditional elite set a precedent and his successors, beginning with Septimius Severus began to exclude the Roman nobility from government and did not even pretend to show them any deference. Commodus reign can be seen as initiating a new and more absolute concept of Imperial power and a growing authoritarianism in the government of the Imperial domains <ref>Gibbon, I chapter 8</ref>.

==Commodus Misrule==

With the exception of a few years in the reigns of Nero and Caligula the Imperial territories had been ruled relatively wellfor two centuries. Successive Imperial governments had been fiscally prudent and had been careful to control spending. However, Commodus began to spend extravagantly, and this soon resulted in a financial crisis. It also led to runaway inflation and this was to become a major problem in the years ahead and caused great social and economic problems, in the years after his death. The last member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty was a very insecure ruler, despite his claims to be the reincarnation of Hercules. <ref> Speidel, Michael P. "Commodus the God-Emperor and the army." The Journal of Roman Studies 83 (1993): 109-114 </ref>. He was very aware that he needed the support of the legions. For the first time in decades, the Emperor sought to cultivate the army, to shore up his hold on power. It was another dangerous precedent and it was one that was followed by his immediate successors. The result of which was that the legions, began to become increasingly powerful and this destabilized the Empire over the long term.

==Civil War and the Year of the Five Emperors==

The assassination of Commodus was the first time in almost a hundred years that a reigning ruler of the Roman world was killed. Furthermore, the last of his dynasty left no heir and abandoned the practice of adopting a son as his heir. The adoption of heirs had prevented any succession problems for many decades. The death of the son of Marcus and his misgovernment meant that after his death that there was a great deal of instability. In 193 AD, five different men held the title of Emperor. The Praetorian Guard assassinated Petrinax when he tried to reform the Imperial Bodyguard. His successor bought the Imperial throne before he was overthrown by Septimius Severus <ref> Historia Augusta, Life of Petrinax, 8 2</ref>. He fought two bitter civil wars to secure his claim to the throne. Commodus calamitous reign led to the most protracted period of instability in the Imperial lands since 66 AD. However, Septimius Severus was to prove an able leader and he managed to stabilize the chaotic situation in the year after the assassination of Commodus. The reign of the man who was obsessed with the Games and gladiators was one that ended the political stability that Rome had enjoyed for almost a century <ref>Speidel, p 110</ref>.

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