Narcissus was a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 athlete, likely a wrestler, from the 2nd century AD. He is best known to history as the assassin of the Roman Emperor Commodus

Commodus

Commodus , was Roman Emperor from 180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180. His name changed throughout his reign; see changes of name for earlier and later forms. His accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded...

, by whom he was employed as a wrestling partner, and personal trainer

Personal trainer

A personal trainer is a fitness professional involved in exercise prescription and instruction. They motivate clients by setting goals and providing feedback and accountability to clients. Trainers also measure their client's strengths and weaknesses with fitness assessments...

 in order to train Commodus for his self-indulgent appearances in the Colosseum

Colosseum

The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...

 as a gladiator

Gladiator

A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...

. In the year 192 AD he was recruited by several senators, led by Praetorian prefect

Praetorian prefect

Praetorian prefect was the title of a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief aides...

 Quintus Aemilius Laetus

Quintus Aemilius Laetus

Quintus Aemilius Laetus was a prefect of the Roman imperial bodyguard, known as the Praetorian Guard, from 191 until his death in 193. He acceded to this position upon the deaths of his predecessors Regillus and Julius Julianus, by appointment of emperor Commodus...

, to assassinate the emperor.

On December 31 of that same year, Commodus's concubine and conspirator Marcia admitted Narcissus into Commodus's bedchamber. Commodus was supposedly in a drunken stupor after Marcia had poisoned him and Narcissus proceeded to strangle his master in his bathtub or, according to Herodian

Herodian

Herodian or Herodianus of Syria was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus in eight books covering the years 180 to 238. His work is not entirely reliable although his relatively unbiased account of Elagabalus is...

, in his bed.

The fictional character of general Maximus Decimus Meridius (played by Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe

Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...

 in the movie Gladiator) was partially based on Narcissus alongside being based on Marcus Aurelius's general Marcus Nonius Macrinus

Marcus Nonius Macrinus

Marcus Nonius Macrinus Roman general and statesman fl. 161 AD in the era of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. He served as Consul in 154, and several terms as proconsul thereafter.According to the inscriptions on his tomb, he was originally from Brescia...

, Spartacus

Spartacus

Spartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...

, Cincinnatus

Cincinnatus

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was an aristocrat and political figure of the Roman Republic, serving as consul in 460 BC and Roman dictator in 458 BC and 439 BC....

 and Maximus of Hispania

Maximus of Hispania

Maximus, also called Maximus Tiranus, was Roman usurper in Hispania . He had been elected by general Gerontius, who might have been his father....

.