101K views · 3.9K reactions | Maximus Defeats Commodus, Finds Peace in Death #gladiator #maximus | DAK Chicken | Facebook

By the winter of 192 CE, Rome had a problem wearing a crown. Emperor Commodus wasn’t content to rule—he wanted to be worshiped. He dressed as Hercules, staged public appearances with a lion-skin and club, and obsessed over the arena. Ancient writers like Cassius Dio and Herodian describe him performing in the amphitheater under conditions that guaranteed victory: opponents chosen for spectacle, rules bent, danger controlled—because the emperor could not be allowed to lose. But the real scandal w