In the later years of the Roman Empire, rulers sometimes let their ambitions spill into the calendar itself. One notorious example is Commodus, who not only governed but also reimagined the way dates were marked during his reign.

Among his more adventurous acts was the creation of month names bearing his own names. He contrived a set of twelve, attaching to them titles and honors drawn from his own power and lineage. Some choices drew from lineage, while others were self-bestowed, yielding names such as Amazonius, Invictus, Felix, Pius, Lucius, Ael(l)ius, Aurelius, Commodus, Augustus, Herculeus, Romanus, and Exsuperatorius. The meaning of Exsuperatorius, for instance, invoked the image of an unparalleled conqueror, while Amazonius linked to the emperor’s imagined connection with an Amazonian lover as described in contemporaneous sources like Historia Augusta.

The practice of naming months after a ruler did not endure; after Commodus’s assassination, these names faded from official use. Yet during the period they were in effect, they offered a formal method to date events by a monarch’s choice rather than the standard civil calendar. It’s worth noting that Commodus was not the first Roman emperor to imprint his presence on the calendar—successors later borrowed from Julius Caesar and Augustus for the months July and August—but none pursued this tradition with such breadth or symbolism.

Beyond the months, Commodus extended his self-aggrandizing influence to the very city of Rome, renaming it Colonia Commodiana, the Commodian Colony. Towards the end of his rule, the Senate even proclaimed him divine, aligning political power with divine status in a vivid expression of imperial authority.