Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius (121–180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher, remembered as the last of the "Five Good Emperors." Adopted in 138 by Antoninus Pius at the wish of Emperor Hadrian, he spent more than two decades preparing to rule. Through teachers such as Junius Rusticus he came to the teachings of Epictetus, and Stoic philosophy became the guide of his life. His reign was burdened by a severe epidemic and long campaigns on the Danube frontier, yet he governed with duty and restraint and in 176 endowed chairs of philosophy in Athens. During those years he wrote, in Greek, the private reflections now known as the Meditations, which counsel self-discipline, justice and acceptance of what lies beyond one's control. His bronze equestrian statue survives in Rome, and the Meditations remain widely read.
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Rome from Republic to Byzantium
Julius Caesar's rise to supreme power brought the Roman Republic to its end, and his adopted heir Augustus became Rome's first emperor, ushering in the Pax Romana. Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor, recorded his Stoic reflections in the Meditations. Constantine the Great granted tolerance to Christianity and founded Constantinople, and in the sixth century the general Belisarius recovered North Africa and Italy for the Eastern Roman Empire under Justinian.
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