While my
fellow noders have done some
very nice writeups on Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus, what both these writups get wrong is that Commodus was not a bad
Emperor because he persecuted
Christians, but because he was lax in his
persecution of them.
While his father, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus established many of the prohibitions against Christians, Commodus was heavily influenced by his favorite concubine, Marcia, who may or may not have been a Christian.