Marcus aurelius biography roman emperors

He was a member of the Nerva—Antonine dynastythe last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors and the last emperor of the Pax Romanaan age of relative peace, calm, and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BC to AD. He served as Roman consul in, and He was related through marriage to the emperors Trajan and Hadrian.

Marcus aurelius biography roman emperors

Marcus was three when his father died, and was raised by his mother and paternal grandfather. In turn, Antoninus adopted Marcus and Luciusthe son of Aelius. Hadrian died that year, and Antoninus became emperor. He married Antoninus's daughter Faustina in After Antoninus died inMarcus acceded to the throne alongside his adoptive brother, who took the regnal name Lucius Aurelius Verus.

Under the reign of Marcus Aureliusthe Roman Empire witnessed much military conflict. These and other Germanic peoples began to represent a troubling reality for the Empire. He reduced the silver purity of the Roman currencythe denarius. The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire appears to have increased during his reign, although his involvement is unlikely since there are no Christian sources ascribing him the blame, and he was praised by Justin Martyr and Tertullian.

Lucius Verus may have died from the plague in When Marcus himself died inhe was succeeded by his son Commodus. Commodus's succession after Marcus has been a subject of debate among both contemporary and modern historians. The Column of Marcus Aurelius and Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius still stand in Rome, where they were erected in celebration of his military victories.

As a philosopher, his work Meditations is one of the most important sources for the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy. These writings have been praised by fellow writers, philosophers, monarchs, and politicians centuries after his death. The major sources depicting the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable.

The most important group of sources, the biographies contained in the Historia Augustaclaimed to be written by a group of authors at the turn of the 4th century AD, but it is believed they were in fact written by a single author referred to here as 'the biographer' from about A body of correspondence between Marcus's tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c.

Dio is vital for the military history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices and strong opposition to imperial expansion obscure his perspective. Marcus was born in Rome on 26 April His birth name is sometimes given as Marcus Annius Verus, [ 13 ] but sources assign this name to him upon his father's marcus aurelius biography roman emperors and unofficial adoption by his grandfather, upon his coming of age.

Upon his adoption by Antoninus as heir to the throne, he was known as "Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar" and, upon his ascension, he was "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus" until his death; [ 19 ] Epiphanius of Salamisin his chronology of the Roman emperors included in his On Weights and Measurescalls him Marcus Aurelius Verus. Calvisius Tullus and inherited a great fortune described at length in one of Pliny 's letters from her parents and grandparents.

Her inheritance included large brickworks on the outskirts of Rome — a profitable enterprise in an era when the city was experiencing a construction boom — and the Horti Domitia Calvillae or Lucillaea villa on the Caelian hill of Rome. The adoptive family of Marcus was the gens Aureliaan old Roman gens. Marcus's sister, Annia Cornificia Faustinawas probably born in or Instead, Marcus was in the care of 'nurses', [ 42 ] and was raised after his father's death by his grandfather Marcus Annius Verus IIwho had always retained the legal authority of patria potestas over his son and grandson.

Technically this was not an adoption, the creation of a new and different patria potestas. Lucius Catilius Severusdescribed as Marcus's maternal great-grandfather, also participated in his upbringing; he was probably the elder Domitia Lucilla's stepfather. Marcus's grandfather owned a marcus aurelius biography roman emperors beside the Lateranwhere he would spend much of his childhood.

From a young age, Marcus displayed enthusiasm for wrestling and boxing. He trained in wrestling as a youth and into his teenage years, learned to fight in armour and joined the Saliian order of priests dedicated to the god Mars that were responsible for the sacred shields, called Anciliaand possibly for heralding war season's beginning and end.

Marcus was educated at home, in line with contemporary aristocratic trends; [ 48 ] he thanks Catilius Severus for encouraging him to avoid public schools. In lateHadrian almost died from a haemorrhage. Convalescent in his villa at Tivolihe selected Lucius Ceionius Commodus, Marcus's intended father-in-law, as his successor and adopted son[ 57 ] according to the biographer 'against the wishes of everyone'.

His health was so poor that, during a ceremony to mark his becoming heir to the throne, he was too weak to lift a large shield on his own. However, the night before the scheduled speech, he grew ill and died of a haemorrhage later in the day. Aelius Aurelius Verus, and Lucius became L. Aelius Aurelius Commodus. At Hadrian's request, Antoninus's daughter Faustina was betrothed to Lucius.

Only with reluctance did he move from his mother's house on the Caelian to Hadrian's private home. At some time inHadrian requested in the Senate that Marcus be exempt from the law barring him from becoming quaestor before his twenty-fourth birthday. The Senate complied, and Marcus served under Antoninus, the consul for If not for his adoption, he probably would have become triumvir monetalisa highly regarded post involving token administration of the state mint; after that, he could have served as tribune with a legionbecoming the legion's nominal second-in-command.

Marcus probably would have opted for travel and further education instead. As it was, Marcus was set apart from his fellow citizens. Nonetheless, his biographer attests that his character remained unaffected: 'He still showed the same respect to his relations as he had when he was an ordinary citizen, and he was as thrifty and careful of his possessions as he had been when he lived in a private household'.

After a series of suicide attempts, all thwarted by Antoninus, Hadrian left for Baiaea seaside resort on the Campanian coast. His condition did not improve, and he abandoned the diet prescribed by his doctors, indulging himself in food and drink. He sent for Antoninus, who was at his side when he died on 10 July Immediately after Hadrian's death, Antoninus approached Marcus and requested that his marriage arrangements be amended: Marcus's betrothal to Ceionia Fabia would be annulled, and he would be betrothed to FaustinaAntoninus's daughter, instead.

Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus's proposal. As the heir apparent, Marcus became princeps iuventutishead of the equestrian order. Antoninus demanded that Marcus reside in the House of Tiberius, the imperial palace on the Palatine, and take up the habits of his new station, the aulicum fastigium or 'pomp of the court', against Marcus's objections.

He told himself it was an attainable goal — 'Where life is possible, then it is possible to live the right life; life is possible in a palace, so it is possible to live the right life in a palace' [ 80 ] — but he found it difficult nonetheless. He would criticise himself in the Meditations for 'abusing court life' in front of company. As quaestor, Marcus would have had little real administrative work to do.

He would read imperial letters to the senate when Antoninus was absent and would do secretarial work for the senators. On 1 JanuaryMarcus was made consul a second time. Fronto urged him in a letter to have plenty of sleep 'so that you may come into the Senate with a good colour and read your speech with a strong voice'. But that ulcer [ Marcus marcuses aurelius biography roman emperors no apparent reference to the marriage in his surviving letters, and only sparing references to Faustina.

After taking the toga virilis inMarcus probably began his training in oratory. The latter two were the most esteemed orators of their time, [ 93 ] but probably did not become his tutors until his adoption by Antoninus in The preponderance of Greek tutors indicates the importance of the Greek language to the aristocracy of Rome. Although educated in Rome, in his Meditations Marcus would write his inmost thoughts in Greek.

Atticus was controversial: an enormously rich Athenian probably the richest man in the eastern half of the empirehe was quick to anger and resented by his fellow Athenians for his patronising manner. He would not mention Herodes at all in his Meditationsin spite of the fact that they would come into contact many times over the following decades.

Fronto was highly esteemed: in the self-consciously antiquarian world of Latin letters, [ ] he was thought of as second only to Ciceroperhaps even an marcus aurelius biography roman emperors to him. Fronto exercised a complete mastery of Latin, capable of tracing expressions through the literature, producing obscure synonymsand challenging minor improprieties in word choice.

A significant amount of the correspondence between Fronto and Marcus has survived. How is it between you and me? I love you and you are not here' in their correspondence. He wrote Fronto a letter on his birthday, claiming to love him as he loved himself, and calling on the gods to ensure that every word he learnt of literature, he would learn 'from the lips of Fronto'.

Fronto never became Marcus's full-time teacher and continued his career as an advocate. One notorious case brought him into conflict with Atticus. Those in particular that refer to the beating and robbing I will describe so that they savour of gall and bile. If I happen to call him an uneducated little Greek it will not mean war to the death'.

By the age of twenty-five between April and AprilMarcus had grown disaffected with his studies in jurisprudenceand showed some signs of general malaise. His master, he writes to Fronto, was an unpleasant blowhard, and had made 'a hit at' him: 'It is easy to sit yawning next to a judge, he says, but to be a judge is noble work'. When he criticised the insincerity of conventional language, Fronto took to defend it.

He had kept his teachers on good terms, following them devotedly. It 'affected his health adversely', his biographer writes, to have devoted so much effort to his studies. It was the only thing the biographer could find fault with in Marcus's entire boyhood. Fronto had warned Marcus against the study of philosophy early on: "It is better never to have touched the teaching of philosophy [ Apollonius may have introduced Marcus to Stoic philosophy, but Quintus Junius Rusticus would have the strongest influence on the boy.

As the grandson of Arulenus Rusticusone of the martyrs to the tyranny of Domitian r. To avoid oratory, poetry, and 'fine writing''. Philostratus describes how even when Marcus was an old man, in the latter part of his reign, he studied under Sextus of Chaeronea :. The Emperor Marcus was an eager disciple of Sextus the Boeotian philosopher, being often in his company and frequenting his house.

Lucius, who had just come to Rome, asked the Emperor, whom he met on his way, where he was going to and on what errand, and Marcus answered, ' it is good even for an old man to learn; I am now on my way to Sextus the philosopher to learn what I do not yet know. On 30 NovemberFaustina gave birth to a girl named Domitia Faustina. She was the first of at least thirteen children including two sets of twins that Faustina would bear over the next twenty-three years.

The next day, 1 December, Antoninus gave Marcus the tribunician power and the imperium — authority over the armies and provinces of the emperor. As tribune, he had the right to bring one measure before the senate after the four Antoninus could introduce. His tribunician powers would be renewed with Antoninus's on 10 December If the gods are willing we seem to have a hope of recovery.

The diarrhoea has stopped, the little attacks of fever have been driven away. But the emaciation is still extreme and there is still quite a bit of coughing'. He and Faustina, Marcus wrote, had been 'pretty occupied' with the girl's care. InFaustina gave birth again, to twin sons. Contemporary coinage commemorates the event, with crossed cornucopiae beneath portrait busts of the two small boys, and the legend temporum felicitas'the happiness of the times'.

They did not survive long. Before the end of the year, another family coin was issued: it shows only a tiny girl, Domitia Faustina, and one boy baby. Then another: the girl alone. The infants were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrianwhere their epitaphs survive. At some time between andprobably soon afterMarcus's mother Domitia Lucilla died.

A coin issue celebrates fecunditati Augustae'to Augusta's fertility', depicting two girls and an infant. The boy did not survive long, as evidenced by coins fromonly depicting the two girls. He might have died inthe same year as Marcus's sister Cornificia. Marcus thanked the temple synod, 'even though this turned out otherwise'. The child's name is unknown.

Lucius started his political career as a quaestor in He was consul in[ ] and was consul again with Marcus in Lucius had a markedly different personality from Marcus: he enjoyed sports of all kinds, but especially hunting and wrestling; he took obvious pleasure in the circus games and gladiatorial fights. InAntoninus turned He found it difficult to keep himself upright without stays.

He started nibbling on dry bread to give him the strength to stay awake through his morning receptions. As Antoninus aged, Marcus would take on more administrative duties, more still when he became the praetorian prefect an office that was as much secretarial as military when Marcus Gavius Maximus died in or Antoninus may have already been ill.

Two days before his death, the biographer reports, Antoninus was at his ancestral estate at Loriumin Etruria[ ] about 19 kilometres 12 mi from Rome. In the night he vomited; he had a fever the next day. The day after that, 7 March[ ] he summoned the imperial council, and passed the state and his daughter to Marcus. The emperor gave the keynote to his life in the last word that he uttered when the tribune of the night-watch came to ask the password — 'aequanimitas' equanimity.

After Antoninus died inMarcus was effectively sole ruler of the Empire. The formalities of the position would follow. The Senate would soon grant him the name Augustus and the title imperatorand he would soon be formally elected as pontifex maximuschief priest of the official cults. Marcus made some show of resistance: the biographer writes that he was 'compelled' to take imperial power.

Marcus, with his preference for the philosophic life, found the imperial office unappealing. His training as a Stoic however, had made the choice clear to him that it was his duty. Although Marcus showed no personal affection for Hadrian significantly, he does not thank him in the first book of his Meditationshe presumably believed it his duty to enact the man's succession plans.

In spite of their nominal equality, Marcus held more auctoritasor 'authority', than Lucius. He had been consul once more than Lucius, he had shared in Antoninus's rule, and he alone was pontifex maximus. Immediately after their Senate confirmation, the emperors proceeded to the Castra Praetoriathe camp of the Praetorian Guard. Lucius addressed the assembled troops, which then acclaimed the pair as imperatores.

Then, like every new emperor since ClaudiusLucius promised the troops a special donativum. In return for this bounty, equivalent to several years' pay, the troops swore an oath to protect the emperors. He decreased the silver purity of the denarius from Antoninus's funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer, 'elaborate'. Marcus and Lucius nominated their father for deification.

In contrast to their behaviour during Antoninus's campaign to deify Hadrian, the Senate did not oppose the emperors' wishes. A flamenor cultic priest, was appointed to minister the cult of the deified Divus Antoninus. Antoninus's remains were laid to rest in Hadrian's mausoleumbeside the remains of Marcus's children and of Hadrian himself.

It survives as the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda. In accordance with his will, Antoninus's fortune passed on to Faustina. Indeed, at his accession, Marcus transferred part of his mother's estate to his nephew, Ummius Quadratus. During the pregnancy she dreamed of giving birth to two serpents, one fiercer than the other. Soon after the emperor's accession, Marcus's eleven-year-old daughter, Annia Lucilla, was betrothed to Lucius in spite of the fact that he was, formally, her uncle.

The emperors permitted free speech, evidenced by the fact that the comedy writer Marullus was able to criticise them without suffering retribution. As the biographer wrote, "No one missed the lenient ways of Pius". Marcus replaced a number of the empire's major officials. The ab epistulis Sextus Caecilius Crescens Volusianus, in charge of the imperial correspondence, was replaced with Titus Varius Clemens.

Clemens was from the frontier province of Pannonia and had served in the war in Mauretania. Recently, he had served as procurator of five provinces. He was a man suited for a time of military crisis. Maecianus was recalled, made senator, and appointed prefect of the treasury aerarium Saturni. He was made consul soon after. Fronto returned to his Roman townhouse at dawn on 28 March, having left his home in Cirta as soon as news of his pupils' accession reached him.

He sent a note to the imperial freedman Charilas, asking if he could call on the emperors. Fronto would later explain that he had not dared to write the emperors directly. Reflecting on the speech he had written on taking his consulship inwhen he had praised the young Marcus, Fronto was ebullient: "There was then an outstanding natural ability in you; there is now perfected excellence.

There was then a crop of growing corn; there is now a ripe, gathered harvest. What I was hoping for then, I have now. The hope has become a reality". Lucius was less esteemed by Fronto than his brother, as his interests were on a lower level. Lucius asked Fronto to adjudicate in a dispute he and his friend Calpurnius were having on the relative merits of two actors.

His daughters were in Rome with their great-great-aunt Matidia; Marcus thought the evening air of the country was too cold for them. He asked Fronto for 'some particularly eloquent reading matter, something of your own, or Cato, or Cicero, or Sallust or Gracchus — or some poet, for I need distraction, especially in this kind of way, by reading something that will uplift and diffuse my pressing anxieties.

It would mean the end of the felicitas temporum 'happy times' that the coinage of had proclaimed. In either autumn or spring[ note 12 ] the Tiber overflowed its banks, flooding much of Rome. It drowned many animals, leaving the city in famine. Marcus and Lucius gave the crisis their personal attention. Fronto's letters continued through Marcus's early reign.

Fronto felt that, because of Marcus's prominence and public duties, lessons were more important now than they had ever been before. He believed Marcus was 'beginning to feel the wish to be eloquent once more, in spite of having for a time lost interest in eloquence'. The early days of Marcus's reign were the happiest of Fronto's life: Marcus was beloved by the people of Rome, an excellent emperor, a fond pupil, and perhaps most importantly, as eloquent as could be wished.

It had conveyed the drama of the disaster, and the Senate had been awed: "Not more suddenly or violently was the city stirred by the earthquake than the minds of your hearers by your speech". Fronto was hugely pleased. On his deathbed, Antoninus spoke of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who had wronged him. Convinced by the prophet Alexander of Abonoteichus that he could defeat the Parthians easily and win glory for himself, [ ] Severianus led a legion perhaps the IX Hispana [ ] into Armenia, but was trapped by the great Parthian general Chosrhoes at Elegeiaa town just beyond the Cappadocian frontiers, high up past the headwaters of the Euphrates.

After Severianus made some unsuccessful efforts to engage Chosrhoes, he committed suicide, and his legion was massacred. This movement gave prominence to self-restraint, reason, and fate. Among the most influential of the works of Stoicism was Discourses. This book, which was the work of the philosopher Epictetus, an ex-slave, caught the attention of Aurelius, and he resolved to take a similar approach to the way he lived his own life.

Meanwhile, Hadrian had been looking for a man to be his successor as Emperor, since his originally preferred candidate was no longer alive. Hadrian decided to adopt the man who would one day become Emperor: Pius Antonius, who was at that time known as Titus Aurelius Antoninus. Aurelius learned from the example that his newly adopted father displayed in his administrative roles.

Marcus Aurelius became consul for the first of three times in During this period, while he maintained his studies of philosophy, Aurelius also began to pay attention to legal affairs. Five years after becoming consul, he married the daughter of the Emperor, Faustina. The couple enjoyed a happy domestic life, and among the best known of their numerous children were Commodus and Lucilla.

Lucius Verus, whose full name was Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus, is thought to have enjoyed the title of co-ruler, although some authorities doubt that Verus had much real power when compared to that of his adoptive brother. After raising the necessary funds and troops, Marcus Aurelius and Verus went off to fight the invaders. Verus died in so Marcus Aurelius pushed on alone, attempting to drive away the Germans.

Inhe faced another challenge, this time for his very position. After hearing a rumor about Marcus Aurelius being deathly ill, Avidius Cassius claimed the title of emperor for himself. This forced Marcus Aurelius to travel to the East to regain control. But he did not have to fight Cassius as he was murdered by his own soldiers. Instead Marcus Aurelius toured eastern provinces with his wife, re-establishing his authority.

Unfortunately, Faustina died during this trip. While once again battling the German tribes, Marcus Aurelius made his son Commodus his co-ruler in Together they fought the northern enemies of the empire. Marcus Aurelius died on March 17, His son Commodus became emperor and soon ended the northern military efforts. Marcus Aurelius, however, is not best remembered for the wars he waged, but for his contemplative nature and his rule driven by reason.

This forced Aurelius to travel to the East to regain control. But he did not have to fight Cassius as he was murdered by his own soldiers. Instead, Aurelius toured eastern provinces with his wife, re-establishing his authority. Unfortunately, Faustina died during this trip. While once again battling the German tribes, Aurelius made his son Commodus his co-ruler in Together they fought the northern enemies of the empire.

Marcus Aurelius died on March 17, His son Commodus became emperor and soon ended the northern military efforts. Marcus Aurelius, however, is not best remembered for the wars he waged, but for his contemplative nature and his rule driven by reason. A collection of his thoughts have been published in a work called The Meditations. Based on his Stoic beliefs, the work is filled with his notes on life.

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