Emperor · 121 – 180
Marcus Aurelius
Little-Known Facts
- The Meditations was never intended for publication; it was Marcus's private notebook of self-examination.
- He wrote much of it in army camps while campaigning on the empire's northern frontier.
Myths & Misconceptions
Was Marcus Aurelius a perfect ruler?
He is admired as a wise and dutiful emperor, but his reign faced war, plague and the persecution of Christians, and his choice of his son Commodus as heir proved disastrous.