Thanks, will ping a little later.
The arenas in HBO’s Rome were authentic to that time period (mid-1st c bc), btw.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Commodus
[snip] Meanwhile, Commodus was lapsing into insanity. He gave Rome a new name, Colonia Commodiana (Colony of Commodus), and imagined that he was the god Hercules, entering the arena to fight as a gladiator or to kill lions with bow and arrow. On December 31, 192, his advisers had him strangled by a champion wrestler, following his announcement the day before that he would assume the consulship, dressed as a gladiator. A grateful Senate proclaimed a new emperor—the city prefect, Publius Helvius Pertinax—but the empire quickly slipped into civil war. [/snip]
https://www.history.com/news/commodus-worst-roman-emperor-gladiator
[snip] In one instance he assembled a large number of men who had lost their feet, dressed them up as serpents, gave them sponges to throw at him in lieu of rocks and clubbed them to death, pretending they were giants. He seems to have been more careful with actual gladiators, never killing any but slicing off the occasional ear or nose. Of course, they had the good sense to let him win their matches.
In all, Commodus reportedly claimed to have won some 12,000 contests in the arena, while also bragging that he had done it left-handed. [/snip]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodus#Commodus_the_gladiator
[snip] Commodus also had a passion for gladiatorial combat, which he took so far as to take to the arena himself, dressed as a secutor. The Romans found Commodus’ gladiatorial combat to be scandalous and disgraceful. According to Herodian, spectators of Commodus thought it unbecoming of an emperor to take up arms in the amphitheater for sport when he could be campaigning against barbarians among other opponents of Rome. The consensus was that it was below his office to participate as a gladiator. Popular rumors spread alleging he was not actually the son of Marcus Aurelius, but of a gladiator his mother Faustina had taken as a lover at the coastal resort of Caieta. [/snip]
Commodus was flushed.....................