Marcus Aurelius

121 – 180 · Italy · Philosophy, Literature

Emperor whose private Meditations founded modern Stoic self-help.

Index entry

Marcus Aurelius is currently a short index entry. The research desk can draft the full profile — achievements, works, living legacy and what is documented about the family line.

Expand this profile

Continuity of ideas

Who shaped Marcus Aurelius, and who they shaped

Inherited from1

  • Epictetus

    50 – 135 · Philosophy

    Marcus copies out Epictetus in the Meditations; the Handbook is his working manual of rule.

Passed the work to1

  • Viktor Frankl

    1905 – 1997 · Philosophy, Psychology

    Frankl's logotherapy restates the Stoic hinge: the last freedom is the stance taken toward what cannot be changed.

Sources and references

Numbered markers in the text above point to the entries below. Each links to a primary document, archival collection or scholarly reference where the claim about Marcus Aurelius can be checked.

  1. 1.
  2. 2.

Nearby in the annals