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Editor says, what if Commodus's elder twin brother had survived childhood? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 161 AD, on this day Faustina the Younger, the wife of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (pictured), gave birth to twin brothers, Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus.
Birth of Emperor Titus AureliusTheir accession as senior and junior emperors was the first time in Roman history that a son had succeeded his father since Titus succeeded Vespasian in 79. But of course the key difference was that this time around both co-rulers were "born in the purple". This proved vital, because it became increasingly clear that the younger twin was a flawed individual quite undeserving of his birth name Commodus, which means "obliging". Because he was anything but, a self-serving individual who required constant correction from his elder brother.
And fortunately for Rome, Titus survived a near death experience aged only four. He ruled alongside his brother and proved the better ruler, leaving his lazy and possibly mad twin to indulge his penchants for parties and gladiator fights.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Commodus, Roman, Roman, Marcus Aurelius, Titus Aurelius. Editor says, in reality Titus did perish aged four, and after their father died his younger brother Commodus ruled for erratically for thirteen years. In authoring this post, we have repurposed content from Wikipedia and Armarium Magnum web sites..
~ Judging from later Roman history, it'd have ended in fratricide.
~ Does it make a lot of difference?
Commodusprovided his share of Roman Scandals, but the empire as a whole ran smoothly enough. It was only on his death that civil war broke out, and even that was a brief hiccup similar to the one following Nero's death - an incident which caused no lsting damage.
It wasn't for another half century - AD235 - that things really went wrong, and the problem then had little to do with the Emperors' personalities. The problem was that the soldiers could demand all the pay they wanted (being indispensible) so the Imperial budget became harder and harder to balance. As the soldiers could make and unmake Emoerors at will, this made for an incresingly rapid turnover, as th soldiers just killed any Emperor who failed to satisfy them.
~ Where was Russell Crowe when they needed him? I would like to look more into who the soldiers might have eliminated that could have been their greatest emperor? Commodus still can't get good reviews thousands of years later. But, there were a lot of managerial concepts still a long way from anything solid.However, there are probably some modern corporations that would be better run by such ancient traditions.
~ Titus would've set up one of those indulged gladiatorial fight to go wrong... or just poisoned his glass. If he didn't Commodus would've to him.
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