A Place of Brightness: Commodus: Yet Another Depraved Emperor of Rome

Monday, January 21, 2013

Commodus: Yet Another Depraved Emperor of Rome

I show the movie Gladiator to my Latin I Class when we reach a chapter in their book about gladiators. And in this movie Commodus is brilliantly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix. This gifted actor creates a deeply flawed and complex character. But it turns out that the real Commodus was a piece of work even beyond the incestual freak in the movie.

Sadly, Marcus Aurelius broke the streak of Emperors selecting the most capable person as their successor, even if that man didn't happen to be their biological son. He appointed his son Commodus as Co-Emperor after his wife and best friend and champion general Avidius Cassius attempted a premature change of leadership while Marcus lay on what they thought was his death-bed.

Commodus became Co-Emperor with this father in 177 and reigned as sole Emperor after his father's death in 180 until his own assassination in 192. Not a bad length of reign for a lunatic.

He styled himself to be a reincarnation of Hercules himself. He was, by all accounts, a physically impressive specimen. He legitimately fought in gladiatorial combats and demonstrated his skill with weapons in sadistic shows in which he killed exotic animals such as elephants, giraffes, and ostriches.

Roman History is full of these colorful characters. He was strangled to death in a plot on December 31, 192.

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In Saecula Saeculorum, the 4th Novel in the Valquist Series

In this fourth novel of the Valquist Series, Andrew Valquist is retired (?) from the National Security Agency and teaching Latin at a Classical Academy in the Washington DC area. But in the world of espionage, looks can be deceiving. He's not necessarily happy with the role he has played in all this, but the school was actually a joint NSA/MI-6 Project in which four young people have been unwittingly prepared for a mission to travel back in time to ancient Rome to retrieve information from a library that may save the modern world from certain destruction. They know they have to at least try to save humanity, but can they also save each other?

Next Stop: Spanish, the 3rd Novel in the Valquist Series

This third novel in the Valquist Series can be read as an espionage action-adventure in its own right, but also you can use it as a way to either brush up on your Spanish or learn functional Spanish for the first time! John Valquist needs to learn Spanish. But he's in luck, since his uncle Andrew is a language expert and a former (?) spy who is taking him on a vacation to Spain so he can study the language. In Next Stop: Spanish, you have the chance to see and study the words John studies, and then watch him add more and more Spanish into his dialogue as the story progresses. During this vacation, they get pulled into espionage intrigue (why do these things always happen to the Valquist family?). In the dramatic conclusion, John will need to put together everything he has learned to save his uncle!

Amor Vincit Omnia: the 2nd Novel in the Valquist Series

In this second novel of the Valquist Series, Keith Massey takes you into the halls of the National Security Agency, where he himself worked for four years after 9/11 and an Arabic linguist. You follow our hero Andrew Valquist, as he starts work as a new recruit at the NSA. Little does he know that on his first on the job, he's about to fly off on an unexpected overseas assignment. He'll be even more surprised when he learns that his background in ancient Latin will be crucial to the mission!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Commodus: Yet Another Depraved Emperor of Rome

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