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India
India (), officially the Republic of India ( ; see also official names of India), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.18 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Mainland India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east; and it is bordered by Pakistan to the west; Bhutan, the People's Republic of China and Nepal to the north; and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, mainland India and the Lakshadweep Islands are in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share maritime border with Thailand and the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the Andaman Sea. India has a coastline of .
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Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution.
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San Jose, California
San Jose (; meaning St. Joseph in Spanish) is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the United States, and the county seat of Santa Clara County. Anchor to the 31st-largest metropolitan area in the country, it is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay. The San Jose/Silicon Valley area is the population center of the greater San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Combined Statistical Area (CSA), a region of nearly 7.5 million people, making it the sixth largest in the United States.
http://wn.com/San_Jose_California
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A. A. Long
Anthony A. Long (born 17 August 1937) is a British and naturalised American classical scholar and Professor of Classics and Irving Stone Professor of Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.
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A. J. Ayer
http://wn.com/A_J_Ayer -
Agathias
Agathias or Agathias Scholasticus (c. AD 536-582/594), of Myrina, an Aeolian city in western Asia Minor, was a Greek poet and the historian who is a principal source for that part of the reign of Justinian I covered in his history.
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Albert Einstein
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Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras (, "lord of the assembly"; c. 500 BC – 428 BC) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae in Asia Minor, Anaxagoras was the first philosopher to bring philosophy from Ionia to Athens. He attempted to give a scientific account of eclipses, meteors, rainbows, and the sun, which he described as a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese. He was accused of contravening the established religion and was forced to flee to Lampsacus.
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Antisthenes
Antisthenes (; c. 445-c. 365 BCE) was a Greek philosopher and a pupil of Socrates. Antisthenes first learned rhetoric under Gorgias before becoming an ardent disciple of Socrates. He adopted and developed the ethical side of Socrates' teachings, advocating an ascetic life lived in accordance with virtue. Later writers regarded him as the founder of Cynic philosophy.
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Aristotle
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Auguste Comte
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Averroes
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Avicenna
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Benjamin Lee Whorf
Benjamin Lee Whorf (April 24, 1897 in Winthrop, Massachusetts – July 26, 1941) was an American linguist. Whorf is widely known for his ideas about linguistic relativity, the hypothesis that language influences thought. An important theme in many of his publications, he has been credited as one of the fathers of this approach, often referred to as the "Sapir-Whorf hypothesis", named after him and his mentor Edward Sapir. Originally educated as a chemical engineer, he took up an interest in linguistics late in his life, studying with Sapir at Yale University. In the last ten years of his life he dedicated his spare time to linguistic studies, doing field work on Native American languages in the US and Mexico. He managed to become one of the most influential linguists of his time, even while still working as a fire inspector for the Hartford Fire Insurance Company. He published a grammar of the Hopi language, studies of Nahuatl dialects, Maya hieroglyphic writing, and the first attempt at a reconstruction of Uto-Aztecan. He also published many articles in the most prestigious linguistic journals, many of them dealing with the ways in which he saw that different linguistic systems affected the thought systems and habitual behaviour of language users.
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Bertrand Russell
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C. D. Broad
C. D. Broad (full name Charlie Dunbar Broad; 30 December 1887 - 11 March 1971) was an English epistemologist, historian of philosophy, philosopher of science, moral philosopher, and writer on the philosophical aspects of psychical research. He was known for his thorough and dispassionate examinations of arguments in such works as The Mind and Its Place in Nature, published in 1925, Scientific Thought, published in 1930, and ''Examination of McTaggart's Philosophy'', published in 1933.
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Carl Gustav Hempel
Carl Gustav "Peter" Hempel (born January 8, 1905 in Oranienburg, Germany died November 9, 1997 in Princeton, New Jersey) was a philosopher of science and a major figure in 20th-century logical empiricism. He is especially well-known for his articulation of the Deductive-nomological model of scientific explanation, which was considered the "standard model" of scientific explanation during the 1950s and 1960's. He is also known for the Raven paradox, which highlights the problem of induction.
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Cato the Younger
Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (95 BC, Rome – April 46 BC, Utica), commonly known as Cato the Younger (Cato Minor) to distinguish him from his great-grandfather (Cato the Elder), was a politician and statesman in the late Roman Republic, and a follower of the Stoic philosophy. He is remembered for his legendary stubbornness and tenacity (especially in his lengthy conflict with Gaius Julius Caesar), as well as his immunity to bribes, his moral integrity, and his famous distaste for the ubiquitous corruption of the period.
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Chrysippus
Chrysippus of Soli (Ancient Greek: , ; c. 279–c. 206 BC) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was a native of Soli, Cilicia, but moved to Athens as a young man, where he became a pupil of Cleanthes in the Stoic school. When Cleanthes died, around 230 BC, Chrysippus became the third head of the school. A prolific writer, Chrysippus expanded the fundamental doctrines of Zeno of Citium, the founder of the school, which earned him the title of Second Founder of Stoicism.
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Confucius
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Crates of Mallus
Crates, of Mallus in Cilicia (modern day Southeastern Anatolia Region, Turkey), was a Greek language grammarian and Stoic philosopher of the 2nd century BC, leader of the literary school and head of the library of Pergamum. His chief work was a critical and exegetical commentary on Homer. He is also famous for constructing the earliest known globe of the Earth.
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Daniel Dennett
Daniel Clement Dennett (born March 28, 1942 in Boston) is an American philosopher and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He graduated from Harvard with a B.A in philosophy, then after completing his D.Phil at the University of Oxford. He is currently the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and a University Professor at Tufts University. Dennett is a noted atheist and secularist, a member of the Secular Coalition for America advisory board, as well as a prominent advocate of the Brights movement.
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Dardanus of Athens
Dardanus (), of Athens, was a Stoic philosopher, lived c. 160-c. 85 BC.
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David Sedley
David Neil Sedley (born 30 May 1947) is the seventh Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at Cambridge University.
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Diodorus Cronus
Diodorus Cronus (; died c. 284 BCE) was a Greek philosopher of the Megarian school. He was most notable for logic innovations, including the problem of future contingents.
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Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laertius (ancient Greek: , Diogenes Laertios; fl. c. 3rd century) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is one of the principal surviving sources for the history of Greek philosophy.
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Diogenes of Sinope
Diogenes of Sinope ( Diogenes ho Sinopeus), was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy. Also known as Diogenes the Cynic, he was born in Sinope (modern-day Sinop, Turkey) in 412 or 404 BCE
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Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir (), (January 26, 1884 – February 4, 1939) was a German-born American anthropologist-linguist and a leader in American structural linguistics. He was one of the creators of what is now called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. He was a highly influential figure in American linguistics, influencing several generations of linguists across several schools of the discipline.
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Epictetus
Epictetus (Greek: ; AD 55–AD 135) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born a slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present day Pamukkale, Turkey), and lived in Rome until banishment when he went to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece where he lived the rest of his life. His teachings were noted down and published by his pupil Arrian in his Discourses. Philosophy, he taught, is a way of life and not just a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are determined by fate, and are thus beyond our control, but we can accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. Individuals, however, are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power. As part of the universal city that is the universe, human beings have a duty to care for all fellow humans. The person who followed these precepts would achieve happiness.
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Francis Bacon
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Franz Boas
Franz Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German American anthropologist a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did post-doctoral work in geography. He applied the scientific method to the study of human cultures and societies; previously this discipline was based on the formulation of grand theories around anecdotal knowledge.
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Galileo Galilei
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Geminus
Geminus of Rhodes (), was a Greek astronomer and mathematician, who flourished in the 1st century BC. An astronomy work of his, the Introduction to the Phenomena, still survives; it was intended as an introductory astronomy book for students. He also wrote a work on mathematics, of which only fragments quoted by later authors survive.
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Gilbert Murray
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Gilbert Ryle
Gilbert Ryle (19 August 1900, Brighton – 6 October 1976, Oxford), was a British philosopher, and a representative of the generation of British ordinary language philosophers that shared Wittgenstein's approach to philosophical problems, and is principally known for his critique of Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the phrase "the ghost in the machine". Some of his ideas in the philosophy of mind have been referred to as "behaviourist" (not to be confused with the psychological behaviourism of B. F. Skinner and John B. Watson). Ryle's best known book is The Concept of Mind (1949), in which he writes that the "general trend of this book will undoubtedly, and harmlessly, be stigmatised as 'behaviourist'." Ryle, having engaged in detailed study of the key works of Bernard Bolzano, Franz Brentano, Alexius Meinong, Husserl, and Heidegger, himself suggested instead that the book "could be described as a sustained essay in phenomenology, if you are at home with that label."
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Gottlob Frege
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Gustav Bergmann
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Hans-Georg Gadamer
Hans-Georg Gadamer (; February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 magnum opus, Truth and Method (Wahrheit und Methode).
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Hecato of Rhodes
Hecato or Hecaton of Rhodes (; fl. c. 100 BC) was a Stoic philosopher.
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Henri Bergson
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Henri Poincaré
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Herbert Spencer
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Herillus
Herillus or Erillus (; 3rd century BCE) of Chalcedon (or Carthage), was a Stoic philosopher and a pupil of Zeno of Citium.
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Herillus of Carthage
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Hugh of Saint Victor
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Ibn Khaldun
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Immanuel Kant
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Imre Lakatos
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Isaac Newton
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J. L. Austin
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Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida () (15 July 1930 – 8 October 2004) was a French philosopher born in Algeria. He developed the critical technique known as deconstruction, and his work has been associated both with post-structuralism and postmodern philosophy. His prolific output of more than 40 published books, together with essays and public speaking, has had a significant impact upon the humanities, particularly on literary theory and continental philosophy. His best known assertion with regard to his methodology is that "there is no outside-the-text."
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John Dewey
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John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 8 May 1873) was a British philosopher and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham, although his conception of it was very different from Bentham's. Hoping to remedy the problems found in an inductive approach to science, such as confirmation bias, he clearly set forth the premises of falsification as the key component in the scientific method. Mill was also a Member of Parliament and an important figure in liberal political philosophy.
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Justinian I
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Jürgen Habermas
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Kant
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Karl Popper
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Larry Laudan
Larry Laudan (b. Austin, Texas 1941) is a contemporary philosopher of science and epistemologist. He has strongly criticized the traditions of positivism, realism, and relativism, and he has defended a view of science as a privileged and progressive institution against popular challenges. Laudan's philosophical view of "research traditions" is seen as an important alternative to Imre Lakatos's "research programs."
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Lawrence C. Becker
Lawrence C. Becker (1939-) is an American philosopher working mainly in the areas of ethics and social, political, and legal philosophy. He is the author of books and journal articles on stoicism, reciprocity, property rights, justice, and metaethics. He is the editor, with the librarian Charlotte B. Becker, of the Encyclopedia of Ethics.
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Leonard Bloomfield
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Lev Vygotsky
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Ludwig Wittgenstein
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Marcus Aurelius
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Mazdak
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Mnesarchus of Athens
Mnesarchus or Mnesarch (), of Athens, was a Stoic philosopher, lived c. 160-c. 85 BC.
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Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky ( or ; born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and political activist. He is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chomsky is well known in the academic and scientific community as one of the fathers of modern linguistics, and a major figure of analytic philosophy. Since the 1960s, he has become known more widely as a political dissident and an anarchist, referring to himself as a libertarian socialist. Chomsky is the author of more than 100 books and has received worldwide attention for his views, despite being typically absent from the mainstream media.
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Otto Neurath
Otto Neurath (Vienna, December 10, 1882 - Oxford, December 22, 1945) was an Austrian philosopher of science, sociologist, and political economist. Before he was forced to flee his native country for Great Britain in the wake of the Nazi occupation, Neurath was one of the leading figures of the Vienna Circle.
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P. F. Strawson
Sir Peter Frederick Strawson FBA (23 November 1919 – 13 February 2006) was an English philosopher. He was the Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) from 1968 to 1987. Before that he was appointed as a college lecturer at University College, Oxford in 1947 and became a tutorial fellow the following year until 1968. On his retirement in 1987, he returned to the college and continued working there until shortly before his death.
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Panaetius
Panaetius (; c. 185 - c. 110/09 BC) of Rhodes was a Stoic philosopher. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon and Antipater of Tarsus in Athens, before moving to Rome where he did much to introduce Stoic doctrines to the city. After the death of Scipio in 129, he returned to the Stoic school in Athens, and was its last undisputed scholarch. With Panaetius, Stoicism became much more eclectic. His most famous work was his On Duties, the principal source used by Cicero in his own work of the same name.
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Panaetius of Rhodes
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Paul Feyerabend
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Paul Grice
Herbert Paul Grice (March 13, 1913, Birmingham, England – August 28, 1988, Berkeley, California), usually publishing under the name H. P. Grice, H. Paul Grice, or Paul Grice, was a British-educated philosopher of language, who spent the final two decades of his career in the United States.
http://wn.com/Paul_Grice -
Paul Ricœur
http://wn.com/Paul_Ricœur -
Paul Tillich
http://wn.com/Paul_Tillich -
Persaeus
Persaeus (; 306-243 BC), of Citium, son of Demetrius, was a Stoic philosopher, and a friend and favourite student of Zeno of Citium.
http://wn.com/Persaeus -
Philip Melanchthon
http://wn.com/Philip_Melanchthon -
Pierre Duhem
http://wn.com/Pierre_Duhem -
Pierre Gassendi
Pierre Gassendi (January 22, 1592 – October 24, 1655) was a French philosopher, priest, scientist, astronomer, and mathematician. With a church position in south-east France, he also spent much time in Paris, where he was a leader of a group of free-thinking intellectuals. He was also an active observational scientist, publishing the first data on the transit of Mercury in 1631. The lunar crater Gassendi is named after him.
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Pierre Hadot
http://wn.com/Pierre_Hadot -
Plato
:For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation) and Platon (disambiguation).
http://wn.com/Plato -
Plotinus
http://wn.com/Plotinus -
Plutarch
http://wn.com/Plutarch -
Posidonius
http://wn.com/Posidonius -
R.B. Braithwaite
http://wn.com/RB_Braithwaite -
René Descartes
http://wn.com/René_Descartes -
Robert Kilwardby
http://wn.com/Robert_Kilwardby -
Roger Bacon
http://wn.com/Roger_Bacon -
Romanian philosophy
Romanian philosophy is a name covering either a) the philosophy done in Romania or by Romanians, or b) an ethnic philosophy, which expresses at a high level the fundamental features of the Romanian spirituality, or which elevates to a philosophical level the Weltanschauung of the Romanian people, as deposited in language and folklore, traditions, architecture and other linguistic and cultural artifacts.
http://wn.com/Romanian_philosophy -
Rudolf Carnap
Rudolf Carnap (May 18, 1891 – September 14, 1970) was an influential German-born philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a leading member of the Vienna Circle and a prominent advocate of logical positivism.
http://wn.com/Rudolf_Carnap -
Russian philosophy
http://wn.com/Russian_philosophy -
Saul Kripke
Saul Aaron Kripke (born November 13, 1940) is an American philosopher and logician. He is a professor emeritus at Princeton and teaches as a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at CUNY Graduate Center. Since the 1960s Kripke has been a central figure in a number of fields related to mathematical logic, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, metaphysics, epistemology, and set theory. Much of his work remains unpublished or exists only as tape-recordings and privately circulated manuscripts (see "Unpublished Manuscripts and Online Lectures" below). Kripke was the recipient of the 2001 Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy. A recent poll conducted among philosophers ranked Kripke among the top ten most important philosophers of the past 200 years.
http://wn.com/Saul_Kripke -
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca, or Seneca the Younger) (c. 3 BC – 65 AD) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero. He was later forced to commit suicide for complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate this last of the Julio-Claudian emperors; however, he may have been innocent. His father was Seneca the Elder and his older brother was Gallio.
http://wn.com/Seneca_the_Younger -
Sextus of Chaeronea
Sextus of Chaeronea (fl. c. 160 AD) was a Stoic philosopher, a nephew or grandson of Plutarch, and one of the teachers of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
http://wn.com/Sextus_of_Chaeronea -
Socrates
http://wn.com/Socrates -
Sphaerus
Sphaerus (; c. 285-c. 210 BC) of Borysthenes or the Bosphorus, was a Stoic philosopher.
http://wn.com/Sphaerus -
Stephen Toulmin
Stephen Edelston Toulmin (25 March 1922 - 4 December 2009) was a British philosopher, author, and educator. Influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Toulmin devoted his works to the analysis of moral reasoning. Throughout his writings, he sought to develop practical arguments which can be used effectively in evaluating the ethics behind moral issues. His works were later found useful in the field of rhetoric for analyzing rhetorical arguments. The Toulmin Model of Argumentation, a diagram containing six interrelated components used for analyzing arguments, was considered his most influential work, particularly in the field of rhetoric and communication, and in computer science.
http://wn.com/Stephen_Toulmin -
Thomas Hobbes
http://wn.com/Thomas_Hobbes -
Thomas Samuel Kuhn
http://wn.com/Thomas_Samuel_Kuhn -
W.V.O. Quine
http://wn.com/WVO_Quine -
Wilhelm von Humboldt
http://wn.com/Wilhelm_von_Humboldt -
Wilhelm Windelband
http://wn.com/Wilhelm_Windelband -
Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (16 August 1832 - 31 August 1920) was a German medical doctor, psychologist, physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the founding figures of modern psychology. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology". In 1879, Wundt founded one of the first formal laboratories for psychological research at the University of Leipzig.
http://wn.com/Wilhelm_Wundt -
William of Ockham
http://wn.com/William_of_Ockham -
William Whewell
William Whewell (24 May 1794 – 6 March 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. His surname is .
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Zeno of Citium
http://wn.com/Zeno_of_Citium
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Stoic Philosophy by Philip Hansten (Part 1)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:42
- Published: 02 Dec 2011
- Updated: 08 Oct 2012
An introduction to Stoic philosophy. The First of 3 parts. by Dr. Philip Hansten, Professor Emeritus, University of Washington
http://wn.com/Stoic_Philosophy_by_Philip_Hansten_Part_1
History of Stoicism Documentary
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:35
- Published: 13 Sep 2008
- Updated: 07 Oct 2012
An oral presentation for history that i made into a film.....sorry the music can be a bit annoying, was a bit last minute and had to go with something!
http://wn.com/History_of_Stoicism_Documentary
On Being a Stoic: A Documentary
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:08
- Published: 18 Oct 2011
- Updated: 10 Oct 2012
Stoicism is a philosophy from ancient Greece that teaches people to value logical reasoning and self-control over destructive emotions or urges. This film seeks to dispel the mysteries surrounding Stoicism, and spread some of the good advice that the ancient philosophers left for us. ------- This was my second film for my Intro to Film class, I'm quite happy with the way it turned out...actually I just pulled an all nighter to finish editing it :V I want to give a big thanks to my teacher Tom Pope for agreeing to do the interview, he had so many great things to say but sadly the film couldn't be longer then 5 minutes :c Also a huge thanks to my friends Ross and Mary for assisting me with the camera stuff and driving me to Wisconsin to meet with Tom XD You guys are the best~ Hmm I should upload my first film sometime too :0
http://wn.com/On_Being_a_Stoic_A_Documentary
Tim Ferriss on The Practicality of Pessimism: Stoicism as a Productivity System. Ep 20
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:13
- Published: 30 Jun 2009
- Updated: 11 Oct 2012
Tim Ferriss, the author of the 4-Hour Workweek, talks about a different type of productivity technique, one based on Stoicism. Tim asks that you ponder this: could defining your fears be more important than defining your goals?
http://wn.com/Tim_Ferriss_on_The_Practicality_of_Pessimism_Stoicism_as_a_Productivity_System_Ep_20
Neo-Stoicism in the Modern World
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:16
- Published: 27 Sep 2009
- Updated: 13 Oct 2012
Here is a response to variablast on the question of why stoicism is not more prevalent in the modern world. www.amazon.com www.amazon.com
http://wn.com/Neo-Stoicism_in_the_Modern_World
A Stoicism Primer
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:51
- Published: 02 Aug 2009
- Updated: 11 Oct 2012
READ: www.amazon.com This is a short discussion of Epictetus which then has a brief fragment of the Hymn to Zeus by Cleanthes presented in two forms. Cf. www.amazon.com A fragment from "Hymn to Zeus" Chaos to thee is order in thine eyes the unlovely is lovely who dids't harmonize things evil with things good that there should be, one Word through all things, Everlastingly ---Cleanthes
http://wn.com/A_Stoicism_Primer
(05) Epicureans and Stoics (CLWR 221)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:25
- Published: 30 Oct 2009
- Updated: 26 Sep 2012
This class is concerned with the broad philosophical watershed in religious and non-religious thinking that is illustrated in two Greek philosophical traditions—Epicureans and Stoics (Excerpts from "Difficult Dialogues concerning Religious Beliefs," a course taught by Steve Hays of Ohio University with funding from the Ford Foundation Difficult Dialogues Project.)
http://wn.com/05_Epicureans_and_Stoics_CLWR_221
Stoicism: The Original Self Help? With Jules Evans (part1)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:33
- Published: 02 Dec 2010
- Updated: 02 Oct 2012
Stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy that grew up in Athens in 300BC, would seem to be light years away from modern self-help. The Stoics fasted, slept on floors, avoided hot baths, shunned cook books, attempted to extirpate all passions, and embraced suicide as a legitimate response to the 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune'. Hardly a philosophy for today's touchy-feely society. And yet, Jules Evans argues, Stoicism was actually the original self-help. It gave its students a tool-box of practical exercises they could use to transform their emotions, train their minds, and achieve happiness. And the philosophy is enjoying an unlikely revival, through self-help. Ever since Dale Carnegie quoted Marcus Aurelius, self-help writers have been rediscovering Stoic ideas and techniques. In recent years, cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists have also been discovering the efficacy of Stoic therapy. Jules Evans discusses the unlikely revival of Stoicism, and discusses some of the therapeutic techniques the Stoics used to achieve inner peace. Jules Evans Jules Evans is a journalist, writer and researcher with the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary College. He has written on philosophy and psychology for Prospect, The Times, The Spectator, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and other publications. At Queen Mary College, he is researching the relationship between ancient Greek philosophy and modern psychology. You can connect with Jules on Twitter <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/Stoicism_The_Original_Self_Help?_With_Jules_Evans_part1
1/4 Epicureans, Stoics, Skeptics (Rick Roderick)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:23
- Published: 28 Jul 2009
- Updated: 14 Sep 2012
Transcript: rickroderick.org This is part one of the second lecture in the "Philosophy and Human Values" series of lectures. Presented by Professor Rick Roderick in 1990. Originally released by The Teaching Company on VHS.
http://wn.com/1_4_Epicureans,_Stoics,_Skeptics_Rick_Roderick
Part 1 of Using Stoic philosophy in counselling: Hedonic Adaptation and Negative Visualization
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:13
- Published: 23 Jan 2011
- Updated: 08 Oct 2012
The philosophy of Stoicism is a powerful antidote to much human suffering. By reframing your situation using one of the Stoic psychological techniques, you can get to feel much better about your life. In this video clip, Dr Jim Byrne looks at the human frailty of 'hedonic adaptation' and how this can be corrected by 'negative visualization'. Examples used of hedonic adaptation include the greed of the bankers for more and more money... the madness of human greed...
http://wn.com/Part_1_of_Using_Stoic_philosophy_in_counselling_Hedonic_Adaptation_and_Negative_Visualization
Stoicism: Grateful Indifference
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:57
- Published: 03 Aug 2009
- Updated: 11 Oct 2012
MUST READ: www.amazon.com This talk addresses stoicism as a kind of grateful indifference. cf. www.amazon.com and also. www.amazon.com
http://wn.com/Stoicism_Grateful_Indifference
Marcus Aurelius birthday gathering of the Stoics
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:00
- Published: 10 May 2010
- Updated: 16 Aug 2012
Highlights of the conference - pics followed by clips of the talks. Thanks to everyone who attended, and especially to our hosts, Erik and Amielle Wiegardt. You can find out more about modern Stoicism in my book, Philosophy for LIfe and Other Dangerous Situations: www.amazon.co.uk And at my website: www.philosophyforlife.org
http://wn.com/Marcus_Aurelius_birthday_gathering_of_the_Stoics
Stoicism and Mindfulness
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:33
- Published: 27 Dec 2009
- Updated: 03 Oct 2012
What's the overlap between Marcus Aurelius and the Buddha? What are the practical spiritual similarities between the Stoics and those spiritual traditions that practice mindfulness techniques?
http://wn.com/Stoicism_and_Mindfulness
Stoicism, quotations from Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:04
- Published: 26 Jun 2008
- Updated: 16 Sep 2012
In the life of the individual man, virtue is the sole good; such things as health, happiness, possessions, are of no account. Since virtue resides in the will, everything really good or bad in a man's life depends only upon himself. He may become poor, but what of it? He can still be virtuous. A tyrant may put him in prison, but he can still persevere in living in harmony with Nature. He may be sentenced to death, but he can die nobly, like Socrates. Therefore every man has perfect freedom, provided he emancipates himself from mundane desires. - Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy (254) Source for quotes: en.wikipedia.org
http://wn.com/Stoicism,_quotations_from_Aurelius,_Epictetus,_Seneca
Letters from a Stoic - Episode #67
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:00
- Published: 04 May 2010
- Updated: 24 Jul 2012
www.PhilosophersNotes.com In this PN TV episode, we'll take a quick look at some of Seneca's Big Ideas on rockin' it from his great Old School Classic "Letters from a Stoic." Hope you love it! :)
http://wn.com/Letters_from_a_Stoic_Episode_67
OAAPODCAST EP 20 ''Stoicism'' with Dt Strain
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 73:59
- Published: 01 Mar 2012
- Updated: 11 May 2012
For more info concerning this podcast please visit openairatheistpodcast.blogspot.com This podcast is listener supported ) For more info about this episodes guest please visit humanistcontemplative.org
http://wn.com/OAAPODCAST_EP_20_''Stoicism''_with_Dt_Strain
Stoic Logic - An Introduction
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:16
- Published: 16 Apr 2010
- Updated: 18 Sep 2012
An introduction to some elementary forms of stoic logic, prepared for a high school class.
http://wn.com/Stoic_Logic_An_Introduction
Stoic Ethics (Part 1 of 3)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 15:00
- Published: 14 Nov 2010
- Updated: 01 Oct 2012
Excerpt from "Stoicism by George Stock: Chapter IV" read by Leon Mire. Free downloadable audio book from librivox.org librivox.org Stoicism by St. George Stock This short book is part of the Philosophies Ancient and Modernseries, which attempts to make Western philosophy more accessible to the general public. www.archive.org NOTE: in this text, "paradox" is just a statement contrary to received opinion. See page 61: "by paradox is meant that which runs counter to general opinion" ================== Introduction to Stoicism ================== STOCKDALE, JB On Stoicism: I- The Stoic Warrior's Triad. PDF file, 1995. www.usna.edu ______. On Stoicism: II- Master of My Fate. PDF file, 1995. www.usna.edu ______. Coragem sob Fogo: Testando as Doutrinas de Epicteto num Laboratório Comportamento Humano. Tradução de Aldo Dinucci e Joelson Nascim. Arquivo PDF, 2009. books.google.com.br
http://wn.com/Stoic_Ethics_Part_1_of_3
Stoicism - How To Feel OK No Matter What
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:31
- Published: 25 Nov 2010
- Updated: 02 Oct 2012
A short plug for my new book "Greeks To Geeks: Practical Stoicism in the 21st Century" which can be purchased here: www.amazon.com
http://wn.com/Stoicism_How_To_Feel_OK_No_Matter_What
Stoicism Philosophy - Zeno's 11 Points
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:37
- Published: 24 May 2009
- Updated: 13 Oct 2012
Zeno Of Citium - His 11 Points That Stoicism Teaches Song - Angels - Enya
http://wn.com/Stoicism_Philosophy_Zeno's_11_Points
Stoic Episode 1.mov
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:27
- Published: 07 Jun 2010
- Updated: 17 Aug 2012
Stoics - Enough Of What I Need
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:16
- Published: 15 May 2009
- Updated: 28 Aug 2012
texas garage punk
http://wn.com/Stoics_Enough_Of_What_I_Need
Autonomous i - Stoicism, dementia & clap
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:47
- Published: 13 Jan 2010
- Updated: 13 Jun 2012
Taken from Autonomous I's debut EP "forNever anonymous" buy it here www.cdbaby.com/cd/autonomousi or check out more Autonomous I music on www.myspace.com/autonomous I
http://wn.com/Autonomous_i_Stoicism,_dementia_clap
Photo: AP / NASA
11 Oct 2012
Forget the diamond as big as the Ritz. This one's bigger than planet Earth. Orbiting a star that is visible to the naked eye, astronomers have discovered a planet twice the size of our own made...
Photo: AP / K.M. Chaudary
12 Oct 2012
THE attack, last Tuesday, on Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year old Pakistani girl, who is in intensive care after she was shot in the head, in an assassination attempt by Taliban militants in broad...
Photo: AP / Mahmoud Tawil
12 Oct 2012
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militant group and political party Hezbollah, declared Thursday that his fighters had assembled and piloted a drone that flew 35...
Photo: Creative Commons / Mertborak
14 Oct 2012
Syria's government has imposed a ban on all Turkish civilian planes flying through its airspace. The move...
Photo: DOD / Tyler Meister
13 Oct 2012
KABUL – Two foreign civilians have been reported missing in Afghanistan, police said Saturday....
Five Reasons Why Stoicism Matters Today
11 Oct 2012
Huffington Post
For all the press that Bill Clinton has gotten for his epic, seemingly-half-improvised convention stem-winder, one of the most revealing lines has barely earned a mention at all. We were surprised to hear Clinton call Barack Obama "a man cool on the outside, but who burns for America on the inside."...(size: 10.8Kb)
The New York Times
DUBLIN — Throughout the European financial crisis, Ireland has won plaudits for the way it has handled austerity. But growth has stalled here once again, and an incipient tax revolt is being taken as a sign that even this most stoic of nations is becoming fed up. Connect With Us on Twitter...(size: 11.3Kb)
MSNBC
Dan Hinds has been known to wear bifocals on the sidelines so he can read his play sheet on Friday nights. With the way the offense has been humming along this season for Desert Vista, it is pretty clear that the eye wear has him focused. "My eyes went a few years ago, but I am an eagle eye from 4...(size: 5.8Kb)
m&c;
Bangkok - Chaihugaun Pakdee is standing ankle-deep in water outside his home next to the Chao Phraya River that drains most of northern and central Thailand through the heart of Bangkok. The 67-year-old is - astonishingly - smiling, with his single-story wooden home virtually in the mighty river...(size: 4.7Kb)
my SA
My cousin sent me a very nice email expressing her sympathy over the loss of my husband. She asked how I was holding up and, tongue-in-cheek, she asked if I had been doing the "Stankiewicz woman stoicism thing." She and I grew up thinking that the S in the maiden name of my mother and her...(size: 2.8Kb)
Facing Floundering Distress With Stoicism
27 Aug 2011
The New York Times
St. Vincent ended her concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Thursday night with an emotionally complicated plea. “Best, finest surgeon,” she sang coolly, fingers skittering along the neck of her guitar. “Come cut me open.” Richard Termine for The New York Times St....(size: 9.6Kb)
The Dallas Morning News
It’s not the heat, it’s the humi … no, wait, it really is the heat. Oh, it’s humid enough, too. It’s kind of the same thing as rain — water in air — except it only makes you more uncomfortable. And as if you need us to remind you, the numbers are becoming daunting. Thursday was our 27th consecutive...(size: 2.9Kb)
Nashville Tennessean
WASHINGTON The best answer President Obama gave at his news conference was to a question nobody asked. An hour into his unusually feisty performance in the East Room, the president was responding to CNN's Jessica Yellin, who had pressed him on the deadline for raising the debt limit, when he...(size: 4.4Kb)
The Independent
The man, hunched miserably under a dripping pergola, put out a hand as a group of girls went by. "Hey," he said. "Where d'you get those?" One of the girls simpered apologetically. "These? Oh, these are bin bags. Yeah, we know we look great." Just below, rain dimpled a water feature on the Aorangi...(size: 5.4Kb)
Conveying the Sadness in Japan's Stoicism
14 Apr 2011
The New York Times
In order to view this feature, you must download the latest version of flash player here. The Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder, who lives with his wife and two young daughters in Japan, was on assignment in North Korea when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck northern Japan on March...(size: 13.6Kb)
Stoicism (Greek Στωικισμός) is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early 3rd century BC. The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.[1]
Stoics were concerned with the active relationship between cosmic determinism and human freedom, and the belief that it is virtuous to maintain a will (called prohairesis) that is in accord with nature. Because of this, the Stoics presented their philosophy as a way of life, and they thought that the best indication of an individual's philosophy was not what a person said but how he behaved.[2]
Later Stoics, such as Seneca and Epictetus, emphasized that because "virtue is sufficient for happiness," a sage was immune to misfortune. This belief is similar to the meaning of the phrase "stoic calm", though the phrase does not include the "radical ethical" Stoic views that only a sage can be considered truly free, and that all moral corruptions are equally vicious.[1]
From its founding, Stoic doctrine was popular with a following throughout Greece and the Roman Empire, including the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, until the closing of all philosophy schools in 529 AD by order of the Emperor Justinian I, who perceived their pagan character as being at odds with the Christian faith.[3][4]
Contents |
Basic tenets[link]
| “ | Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life. | ” |
|
—Epictetus[5] |
||
The Stoics provided a unified account of the world, consisting of formal logic, non-dualistic physics and naturalistic ethics. Of these, they emphasized ethics as the main focus of human knowledge, though their logical theories were of more interest for later philosophers.
Stoicism teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions; the philosophy holds that becoming a clear and unbiased thinker allows one to understand the universal reason (logos). A primary aspect of Stoicism involves improving the individual’s ethical and moral well-being: "Virtue consists in a will that is in agreement with Nature."[6] This principle also applies to the realm of interpersonal relationships; "to be free from anger, envy, and jealousy,"[7] and to accept even slaves as "equals of other men, because all men alike are products of nature."[8]
The Stoic ethic espouses a deterministic perspective; in regard to those who lack Stoic virtue, Cleanthes once opined that the wicked man is "like a dog tied to a cart, and compelled to go wherever it goes."[6] A Stoic of virtue, by contrast, would amend his will to suit the world and remain, in the words of Epictetus, "sick and yet happy, in peril and yet happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy,"[7] thus positing a "completely autonomous" individual will, and at the same time a universe that is "a rigidly deterministic single whole."
Stoicism became the foremost popular philosophy among the educated elite in the Hellenistic world and the Roman Empire,[9] to the point where, in the words of Gilbert Murray "nearly all the successors of Alexander [...] professed themselves Stoics."[10]
History[link]
Beginning at around 301 BC, Zeno taught philosophy at the Stoa Poikile (i.e., "the painted porch"), from which his philosophy got its name.[11] Unlike the other schools of philosophy, such as the Epicureans, Zeno chose to teach his philosophy in a public space, which was a colonnade overlooking the central gathering place of Athens, the Agora.
Zeno's ideas developed from those of the Cynics, whose founding father, Antisthenes, had been a disciple of Socrates. Zeno's most influential follower was Chrysippus, who was responsible for the molding of what is now called Stoicism. Later Roman Stoics focused on promoting a life in harmony within the universe, over which one has no direct control.
Scholars usually divide the history of Stoicism into three phases:
- Early Stoa, from the founding of the school by Zeno to Antipater.
- Middle Stoa, including Panaetius and Posidonius.
- Late Stoa, including Musonius Rufus, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius.
As A. A. Long states, no complete work by any Stoic philosopher survives from the first two phases of Stoicism. Only Roman texts from the Late Stoa survive.[12]
Stoic logic[link]
Propositional logic[link]
Diodorus Cronus, who was one of Zeno's teachers, is considered the philosopher who first introduced and developed an approach to logic now known as propositional logic. This is an approach to logic based on statements or propositions, rather than terms, making it very different from Aristotle's term logic. Later, Chrysippus developed this approach to logic into a system that became known as Stoic logic and included a deductive system (Stoic Syllogistic) which was considered a rival to Aristotle's Syllogistic. New interest in Stoic logic came in the 20th century, when important developments in logic were based on propositional logic. Susanne Bobzien wrote, "The many close similarities between Chrysippus' philosophical logic and that of Gottlob Frege are especially striking."[13]
Bobzien also notes that "Chrysippus wrote over 300 books on logic, on virtually any topic logic today concerns itself with, including speech act theory, sentence analysis, singular and plural expressions, types of predicates, indexicals, existential propositions, sentential connectives, negations, disjunctions, conditionals, logical consequence, valid argument forms, theory of deduction, propositional logic, modal logic, tense logic, epistemic logic, logic of suppositions, logic of imperatives, ambiguity and logical paradoxes."[14]
Stoic Categories[link]
The Stoics held that all being (ὄντα) -- though not all things (τινά) -- is corporeal. They accepted the distinction between concrete bodies and abstract ones, but rejected Aristotle's belief that purely incorporeal being exists. Thus, they accepted Anaxagoras' idea (as did Aristotle) that if an object is hot, it is because some part of a universal heat body had entered the object. But, unlike Aristotle, they extended the idea to cover all accidents. Thus if an object is red, it would be because some part of a universal red body had entered the object.
They held that there were four Categories.
- substance (ὑποκείμενον)
- The primary matter, formless substance, (ousia) that things are made of
- quality (ποιόν)
- The way matter is organized to form an individual object; in Stoic physics, a physical ingredient (pneuma: air or breath), which informs the matter
- somehow disposed (πως ἔχον)
- Particular characteristics, not present within the object, such as size, shape, action, and posture
- Somehow disposed in relation to something (πρός τί πως ἔχον)
- Characteristics related to other phenomena, such as the position of an object within time and space relative to other objects
Epistemology[link]
The Stoics believed that knowledge can be attained through the use of reason. Truth can be distinguished from fallacy; even if, in practice, only an approximation can be made. According to the Stoics, the senses constantly receive sensations: pulsations that pass from objects through the senses to the mind, where they leave an impression in the imagination (phantasia). (An impression arising from the mind was called a phantasma.)[15]
The mind has the ability to judge (sunkatathesis)—approve or reject—an impression, enabling it to distinguish a true representation of reality from one that is false. Some impressions can be assented to immediately, but others can only achieve varying degrees of hesitant approval, which can be labeled belief or opinion (doxa). It is only through reason that we achieve clear comprehension and conviction (katalepsis). Certain and true knowledge (episteme), achievable by the Stoic sage, can be attained only by verifying the conviction with the expertise of one's peers and the collective judgment of humankind.
Make for yourself a definition or description of the thing which is presented to you, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and tell yourself its proper name, and the names of the things of which it has been compounded, and into which it will be resolved. For nothing is so productive of elevation of mind as to be able to examine methodically and truly every object that is presented to you in life, and always to look at things so as to see at the same time what kind of universe this is, and what kind of use everything performs in it, and what value everything has with reference to the whole.
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, iii. 11.
Stoic physics and cosmology[link]
Main article: Stoic physics
According to the Stoics, the universe is a material, reasoning substance, known as God or Nature, which the Stoics divided into two classes, the active and the passive. The passive substance is matter, which "lies sluggish, a substance ready for any use, but sure to remain unemployed if no one sets it in motion."[16] The active substance, which can be called Fate, or Universal Reason (Logos), is an intelligent aether or primordial fire, which acts on the passive matter:
The universe itself is god and the universal outpouring of its soul; it is this same world's guiding principle, operating in mind and reason, together with the common nature of things and the totality that embraces all existence; then the foreordained might and necessity of the future; then fire and the principle of aether; then those elements whose natural state is one of flux and transition, such as water, earth, and air; then the sun, the moon, the stars; and the universal existence in which all things are contained.
—Chrysippus, in Cicero, de Natura Deorum, i.
Everything is subject to the laws of Fate, for the Universe acts only according to its own nature, and the nature of the passive matter it governs. The souls of people and animals are emanations from this primordial fire, and are, likewise, subject to Fate:
Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things that exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the structure of the web.
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, iv. 40.
Individual souls are perishable by nature, and can be "transmuted and diffused, assuming a fiery nature by being received into the Seminal Reason (logos spermatikos) of the Universe."[17] Since right Reason is the foundation of both humanity and the universe, it follows that the goal of life is to live according to Reason, that is, to live a life according to Nature.
Stoic ethics and virtues[link]
The ancient Stoics are often misunderstood because the terms they used pertained to different concepts in the past than they do today. The word 'stoic' has come to mean 'unemotional' or indifferent to pain, because Stoic ethics taught freedom from 'passion' by following 'reason.' The Stoics did not seek to extinguish emotions; rather, they sought to transform them by a resolute 'askēsis' that enables a person to develop clear judgment and inner calm.[18] Logic, reflection, and concentration were the methods of such self-discipline.
Borrowing from the Cynics, the foundation of Stoic ethics is that good lies in the state of the soul itself; in wisdom and self-control. Stoic ethics stressed the rule: "Follow where reason leads." One must therefore strive to be free of the passions, bearing in mind that the ancient meaning of 'passion' was "anguish" or "suffering",[19] that is, "passively" reacting to external events—somewhat different from the modern use of the word. A distinction was made between pathos (plural pathe) which is normally translated as passion, propathos or instinctive reaction (e.g., turning pale and trembling when confronted by physical danger) and eupathos, which is the mark of the Stoic sage (sophos). The eupatheia are feelings that result from correct judgment in the same way as passions result from incorrect judgment.
The idea was to be free of suffering through apatheia (Greek: ἀπάθεια) or peace of mind (literally, 'without passion'),[20] where peace of mind was understood in the ancient sense—being objective or having "clear judgment" and the maintenance of equanimity in the face of life's highs and lows.
For the Stoics, 'reason' meant not only using logic, but also understanding the processes of nature—the logos, or universal reason, inherent in all things. Living according to reason and virtue, they held, is to live in harmony with the divine order of the universe, in recognition of the common reason and essential value of all people. The four cardinal virtues of the Stoic philosophy are wisdom (Sophia), courage (Andreia), justice (Dikaiosyne), and temperance (Sophrosyne), a classification derived from the teachings of Plato.
Following Socrates, the Stoics held that unhappiness and evil are the results of human ignorance of the reason in nature. If someone is unkind, it is because they are unaware of their own universal reason, which leads to the conclusion of kindness. The solution to evil and unhappiness then, is the practice of Stoic philosophy—to examine one's own judgments and behavior and determine where they diverge from the universal reason of nature.
The Stoics accepted that suicide was permissible for the wise person in circumstances that might prevent them from living a virtuous life.[21] Plutarch held that accepting life under tyranny would have compromised Cato's self-consistency (constantia) as a Stoic and impaired his freedom to make the honorable moral choices.[22] Suicide could be justified if one fell victim to severe pain or disease,[21] but otherwise suicide would usually be seen as a rejection of one's social duty.[23]
The doctrine of "things indifferent"[link]
In philosophical terms, things that are indifferent are outside the application of moral law, that is without tendency to either promote or obstruct moral ends. Actions neither required nor forbidden by the moral law, or that do not affect morality, are called morally indifferent. The doctrine of things indifferent (ἀδιάφορα, adiaphora) arose in the Stoic school as a corollary of its diametric opposition of virtue and vice (καθήκοντα kathekon and ἁμαρτήματα hamartemata, respectively "convenient actions," or actions in accordance with nature, and mistakes). As a result of this dichotomy, a large class of objects were left unassigned and thus regarded as indifferent.
Eventually three sub-classes of "things indifferent" developed: things to prefer because they assist life according to nature; things to avoid because they hinder it; and things indifferent in the narrower sense.
The principle of adiaphora was also common to the Cynics and Sceptics. The conception of things indifferent is, according to Kant, extra-moral[citation needed]. The doctrine of things indifferent was revived during the Renaissance by Philip Melanchthon.
Spiritual exercise[link]
Philosophy for a Stoic is not just a set of beliefs or ethical claims, it is a way of life involving constant practice and training (or askesis, see asceticism). Stoic philosophical and spiritual practices included logic, Socratic dialog and self-dialog, contemplation of death, training attention to remain in the present moment (similar to some forms of Eastern meditation), daily reflection on everyday problems and possible solutions, hypomnemata, and so on. Philosophy for a Stoic is an active process of constant practice and self-reminder.
In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius defines several such practices. For example, in Book II, part 1:
Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All of these things have come upon them through ignorance of real good and ill... I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no man will involve me in wrong, nor can I be angry with my kinsman or hate him; for we have come into the world to work together...
Prior to Aurelius, Epictetus in his Discourses distinguished between three topoi: judgment, desire and inclination.[24] According to French philosopher Pierre Hadot, Epictetus identifies these three acts with logic, physics and ethics respectively.[25] Hadot writes that in the Meditations "Each maxim develops either one of these very characteristic topoi, or two of them or three of them."[26]
The practices of spiritual exercises have been described as influencing those of reflective practice by Seamus Mac Suibhne .[27] Parallels between Stoic spiritual exercises and modern cognitive-behavioral therapy have been detailed at length in Robertson's The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.[28]
Social philosophy[link]
A distinctive feature of Stoicism is its cosmopolitanism: All people are manifestations of the one universal spirit and should, according to the Stoics, live in brotherly love and readily help one another. In the Discourses, Epictetus comments on man's relationship with the world: "Each human being is primarily a citizen of his own commonwealth; but he is also a member of the great city of gods and men, where of the city political is only a copy."[29] This sentiment echoes that of Diogenes of Sinope, who said "I am not an Athenian or a Corinthian, but a citizen of the world."[30]
They held that external differences such as rank and wealth are of no importance in social relationships. Instead they advocated the brotherhood of humanity and the natural equality of all human beings. Stoicism became the most influential school of the Greco–Roman world, and produced a number of remarkable writers and personalities, such as Cato the Younger and Epictetus.
In particular, they were noted for their urging of clemency toward slaves. Seneca exhorted, "Kindly remember that he whom you call your slave sprang from the same stock, is smiled upon by the same skies, and on equal terms with yourself breathes, lives, and dies."[31]
Stoicism and Christianity[link]
See also: Neostoicism
The major difference between the two philosophies is Stoicism's pantheism where God is never fully transcendent but always immanent. God as the world-creating entity is personalized in Christian thought, but Stoicism equates God with the totality of the universe; the Stoic idea that all being is corporeal was deeply contrary to Christianity. Also, Stoicism, unlike Christianity, does not posit a beginning or end to the universe, nor does it assert that the individual continues to exist beyond death.[32]
Stoicism was later regarded by the Fathers of the Church as a 'pagan philosophy',[3][4] nonetheless, some of the central philosophical concepts of Stoicism were employed by the early Christian writers. Examples include the terms "logos", "virtue", "Spirit", and "conscience".[32] But the parallels go well beyond the sharing (or borrowing) of terminology. Both Stoicism and Christianity assert an inner freedom in the face of the external world, a belief in human kinship with Nature (or God), and a sense of the innate depravity—or "persistent evil"—of humankind[32] as well as the futility and temporarity of worldly possessions and attachments. Both encourage Ascesis with respect to the passions and inferior emotions (viz. lust, envy and anger) so that the higher possibilities of one's humanity can be awakened and developed.
Stoic writings such as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius have been highly regarded by many Christians throughout the centuries. The Stoic ideal of dispassion is accepted to this day as the perfect moral state by the Eastern Orthodox. St. Ambrose of Milan was known for applying Stoic philosophy to his theology.
Modern usage[link]
The word "stoic" commonly refers to someone indifferent to pain, pleasure, grief, or joy. The modern usage as "person who represses feelings or endures patiently" was first cited in 1579 as a noun, and 1596 as an adjective.[33] In contrast to the term "epicurean", the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's entry on Stoicism notes, "the sense of the English adjective ‘stoical’ is not utterly misleading with regard to its philosophical origins."[34]
Stoic quotations[link]
Below are some quotations from major Stoic philosophers, selected to illustrate common Stoic beliefs:
- "Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of men's desires, but by the removal of desire." (iv.1.175)
- "Where is the good? In the will. Where is the evil? In the will. Where is neither of them? In those things that are independent of the will." (ii.16.1)
- "Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them." (Ench. 5)
- "If, therefore, any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone." (iii.24.2)
- "I am formed by nature for my own good: I am not formed for my own evil." (iii.24.83)
- "Permit nothing to cleave to you that is not your own; nothing to grow to you that may give you agony when it is torn away." (iv.1.112)
- "Get rid of the judgment, get rid of the 'I am hurt,' you are rid of the hurt itself." (viii.40)
- "Everything is right for me that is right for you, O Universe. Nothing for me is too early or too late that comes in due time for you. Everything is fruit to me that your seasons bring, O Nature. From you are all things, in you are all things, to you all things return." (iv.23)
- "If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you were bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, but satisfied to live now according to nature, speaking heroic truth in every word that you utter, you will live happy. And there is no man able to prevent this." (iii.12)
- "How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything that happens in life!" (xii.13)
- "Outward things cannot touch the soul, not in the least degree; nor have they admission to the soul, nor can they turn or move the soul; but the soul turns and moves itself alone." (v 19)
- "Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also" (vi.19)
- "Or is it your reputation that's bothering you? But look at how soon we're all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of those applauding hands." (iv.3)
- "The point is, not how long you live, but how nobly you live." (Ep. 101.15)
- "That which Fortune has not given, she cannot take away." (Ep. 59.18)
- "Let Nature deal with matter, which is her own, as she pleases; let us be cheerful and brave in the face of everything, reflecting that it is nothing of our own that perishes." (De Provid. v.8)
- "Virtue is nothing else than right reason." (Ep. 66.32)
Stoic philosophers[link]
Main article: List of Stoic philosophers
- Zeno of Citium (332–262 BC), founder of Stoicism and the Stoic Academy (Stoa) in Athens
- Aristo of Chios, pupil of Zeno;
- Herillus of Carthage
- Cleanthes (of Assos) (330–232 BC), second head of Stoic Academy
- Chrysippus (280–204 BC), third head of the academy
- Diogenes of Babylon (230–150 BC)
- Antipater of Tarsus (210–129 BC)
- Panaetius of Rhodes (185–109 BC)
- Posidonius of Apameia (c. 135 BC – 51 BC)
- Diodotus (c. 120 BC – 59 BC), teacher of Cicero
- Cato the Younger (94–46 BC)
- Seneca (4 BC – 65 AD)
- Musonius Rufus
- Rubellius Plautus
- Thrasea Paetus
- Epictetus (55–135 AD)
- Hierocles (2nd century AD)
- Marcus Aurelius (121–180 AD)
See also[link]
- Glossary of Stoic terms
- Megarian school
- Pneuma
- Ekpyrotic (cosmological theory)
- Plank of Carneades
- Categories (Stoic)
- List of ancient Greek philosophers
- Stoic Natural Law
References[link]
- ^ a b Stoicism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- ^ John Sellars. Stoicism, p. 32.
- ^ a b Agathias. Histories, 2.31.
- ^ a b David, Sedley (1998). "Ancient philosophy". In E. Craig. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/A130. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
- ^ Epictetus, Discourses 1.15.2, Robin Hard revised translation.
- ^ a b Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy, p. 254
- ^ a b Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy, p. 264
- ^ Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy, p. 253.
- ^ Amos, H. (1982). These Were the Greeks. Chester Springs: Dufour Editions. ISBN 978-0-8023-1275-4. OCLC 9048254.
- ^ Gilbert Murray, The Stoic Philosophy (1915), p.25. In Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy (1946).
- ^ Becker, Lawrence (2003). A History of Western Ethics. New York: Routledge. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-415-96825-6.
- ^ A.A.Long, Hellenistic Philosophy, p.115.
- ^ [1] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Susanne Bobzien, Ancient Logic
- ^ [2] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Susanne Bobzien, Ancient Logic
- ^ Diogenes Laërtius (2000). Lives of eminent philosophers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. VII.49
- ^ Seneca, Epistles, lxv. 2.
- ^ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, iv. 21.
- ^ Graver, Margaret (2009). Stoicism and Emotion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-30558-5. OCLC 430497127.
- ^ "Passion". Merriam-Webster. Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/passion. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ Seddon, Keith (2005). Epictetus' Handbook and the Tablet of Cebes. New York: Routledge. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-415-32451-9. OCLC 469313282.
- ^ a b Don E. Marietta, (1998), Introduction to ancient philosophy, pages 153-4. Sharpe
- ^ Cato's suicide in Plutarch AV Zadorojnyi. The Classical Quarterly. 2007. http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0009838807000195
- ^ William Braxton Irvine, (2009), A guide to the good life: the ancient art of Stoic joy, page 200. Oxford University Press
- ^ Davidson, A.I. (1995) Pierre Hadot and the Spiritual Phenomenon of Ancient Philosophy, in Philosophy as a Way of Life, Hadot, P. Oxford Blackwells pp9-10
- ^ Hadot, P. (1992) La Citadelle intérieure. Introduction aux Pensées de Marc Aurèle. Paris, Fayard, pp106-115
- ^ Hadot, P (1987) Exercices spirituels et philosophie antique. Paris, 2nd edn, p135.
- ^ Mac Suibhne, S. (2009). "'Wrestle to be the man philosophy wished to make you': Marcus Aurelius, reflective practitioner". Reflective Practice 10 (4): 429–436. DOI:10.1080/14623940903138266.
- ^ Robertson, D (2010). The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: Stoicism as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy. London: Karnac. ISBN 978-1-85575-756-1. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XsOFyJaR5vEC&lpg.
- ^ Epictetus, Discourses, ii. 5. 26
- ^ Epictetus, Discourses, i. 9. 1
- ^ Seneca, Moral letters to Lucilius, Letter 47: On master and slave, 10, circa 65 AD.
- ^ a b c Ferguson, Everett. Backgrounds of Early Christianity. 2003, page 368.
- ^ Harper, Douglas (November 2001). "Online Etymology Dictionary — Stoic". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=stoic. Retrieved 2006-09-02.
- ^ Baltzly, Dirk (2004-12-13). "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Stoicism". http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/. Retrieved 2006-09-02.
Further reading[link]
Primary sources[link]
- A. A. Long and D. N. Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
- Inwood, Brad & Gerson LLoyd P. (eds.) The Stoics Reader: Selected Writings and Testimonia Indianapolis: Hackett 2008.
- Long, George Enchiridion by Epictetus, Prometheus Books, Reprint Edition, January 1955.
- Gill C. Epictetus, The Discourses, Everyman 1995.
- Hadas, Moses (ed.), Essential Works of Stoicism (1961: Bantam)
- Harvard University Press Epictetus Discourses Books 1 and 2, Loeb Classical Library Nr. 131, June 1925.
- Harvard University Press Epictetus Discourses Books 3 and 4, Loeb Classical Library Nr. 218, June 1928.
- Long, George, Discourses of Epictetus, Kessinger Publishing, January 2004.
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (transl. Robin Campbell), Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales Ad Lucilium (1969, reprint 2004) ISBN 0-14-044210-3
- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Meditations, translated by Maxwell Staniforth; ISBN 0-14-044140-9, or translated by Gregory Hays; ISBN 0-679-64260-9.
- Oates, Whitney Jennings, The Stoic and Epicurean philosophers, The Complete Extant Writings of Epicurus, Epictetus, Lucretius and Marcus Aurelius, Random House, 9th printing 1940.
Studies[link]
- Bakalis, Nikolaos, Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics. Analysis and Fragments, Trafford Publishing, May 2005, ISBN 1-4120-4843-5
- Becker, Lawrence C., A New Stoicism (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998) ISBN 0-691-01660-7
- Brennan, Tad, The Stoic Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005; paperback 2006)
- Brooke, Christopher. Philosophic Pride: Stoicism and Political Thought from Lipsius to Rousseau (Princeton UP, 2012) excerpts
- Inwood, Brad (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to The Stoics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)
- Irvine, William, A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008) ISBN 978-0-19-537461-2
- Long, A. A., Stoic Studies (Cambridge University Press, 1996; repr. University of California Press, 2001) ISBN 0-520-22974-6
- Robertson, Donald, The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: Stoicism as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy (London: Karnac, 2010) ISBN 978-1-85575-756-1
- Sellars, John, Stoicism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006) ISBN 1-84465-053-7
- Stephens. William O., Stoic Ethics: Epictetus and Happiness as Freedom (London: Continuum, 2007) ISBN 0-8264-9608-3
- Strange, Steven (ed.), Stoicism: Traditions and Transformations (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004) ISBN 0-521-82709-4
- Zeller, Eduard; Reichel, Oswald J., The Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1892
External links[link]
- Stoicism entry by Dirk Baltzly in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Stoicism entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Stoic Philosophy of Mind Stoicism entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- The Stoic Library
- The Rebirth of Stoicism
- Stoic Logic: The Dialectic from Zeno to Chrysippus
- Annotated Bibliography on Ancient Stoic Dialectic
- BBC Radio 4's In Our Time programme on Stoicism (requires RealAudio)
- An introduction to Stoic Philosophy
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
Not to be confused with the science writer Timothy Ferris.
| Tim Ferriss | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | (1977-07-20) July 20, 1977 (age 34) East Hampton, NY |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Alma mater | Princeton University |
| Genres | Nonfiction |
| Notable work(s) | The 4-Hour Workweek The 4-Hour Body |
Timothy Ferriss (born July 20, 1977) is an American author, entrepreneur, and public speaker.[1] In 2007, he published The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, which was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.[2][3] In 2010, he followed up with The 4-Hour Body. Ferriss' third book, The 4-Hour Chef, was announced in 2011.[4]
Contents |
Early life[link]
Ferriss grew up in East Hampton, NY and graduated from St. Paul's School. He received a degree in East Asian Studies from Princeton University in 2000.[5]
Career[link]
In 2001, at the age of 23, Ferriss founded BrainQUICKEN, a San Jose-based online company that sold sports nutrition supplements.[6][7] He sold the company to a London-based private equity firm.[8] He also claims to be a full-time angel investor[9] who has invested in DailyBurn (formerly Gyminee),[10] Twitter, Posterous, Reputation Defender, Foodzie, Badongo, RescueTime, and SimpleGeo.[citation needed]
He claims to have acted as an advisor to StumbleUpon and Shopify[9] in exchange for equity, according to his interviews with Kevin Rose.[citation needed]
He holds the Guinness Book of World Records' record for the most consecutive tango-spins in one minute.[11] Ferriss and his dance partner Alicia Monti set the record live on the show Live with Regis and Kelly.[12] Prior to his writing career, Ferriss claimed that he became the national champion in the 1999 USAWKF Sanshou (Chinese kickboxing) championship through a process of shoving opponents out of the ring and by starving himself before weign in to compete several classes below his actual weight, although this has never been verified and no public record of this event exists.[13]In fact, the news and results section of the 1999 USAWKK webpage reveals no mention at all of Tim Ferriss competing in any of their tournaments.[14] Likewise, an extensive archive of results in a variety of Chinese kickboxing disciplines, dating from 1999 to present, reveals no mention of Tim Ferriss.[15] In 2008, he won Wired Magazine's "Greatest Self-Promoter of All Time" prize[16] and was named one of Fast Company's "Most Innovative Business People of 2007".[17] Ferriss has also spoken at the EG Conference.[18]
His show Trial By Fire aired on the History Channel in December 2008. In the show, Ferriss had one week to attempt to learn a skill normally learned over the course of many years, and in the pilot episode he practiced yabusame, the Japanese art of horse archery.[19] The show was canceled due to low ratings.
The Aspen Institute named Ferriss a 2009 Henry Crown Fellow in March 2009.[20]
Productivity and teachings[link]
Ferriss is known for his application of both the Pareto principle and Parkinson's Law to business and personal life.[21] He has also taken the position that technology such as email, instant messaging and internet-enabled PDAs complicate life rather than simplify it.[22][23] His teachings fit under the umbrella of what he calls "lifestyle design", in which he promotes "mini-retirements" as an alternative to the "deferred-life" career path where one would work a 9 to 5 job until retirement in one's 60s.[24][25] This involves breaking what he calls "outdated assumptions" and finding ways to be more effective so that work takes up less of people's time.[24]
[edit] The 4-Hour Workweek
Main article: The 4-Hour Workweek
In April 2007, Random House released his book The 4-Hour Workweek through its Crown imprint. The book warns against information overload, recommends what Ferriss calls "selective ignorance" and coins the phrase "lifestyle design".[25] He also advocated hiring virtual assistants from developing countries such as India.[25]
Before the release of the 4HWW, Ferriss was an unknown.[26] He marketed the book heavily through bloggers with whom he created personal relationships.[26][27] He has since been praised for this technique.[26][28] The book eventually hit number 1 on both the New York Times bestseller list and the Wall Street Journal bestseller list. On December 15, 2009, The Four-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated was released by Random House with several more case studies of people who have utilized Ferriss' methods.
The book also spawned a blog run by Ferriss, which shares the same name but covers many topics. It remains in the Top 1000 on Technorati.[29] Ferriss stated, in a Fast Company interview, that 4HWW is read by many of the "top tech CEOs in the world".[30] His blog has since become publishing clearing house for many notable entrepreneurs, bestselling authors and thinkers including Chip Conley, Neil Strauss, Tucker Max, Ramit Sethi, Ryan Holiday, Noah Kagan of AppSumo, Chase Jarvis and others.[31] The resulting influence from such posts on book sales and other metrics has been dubbed the "Tim Ferriss effect."[32]
[edit] The 4-Hour Body
On December 14, 2010, Ferriss' second book, The 4-Hour Body, was published by Crown Archetype. The book reached the #1 position in the New York Times Hardcover Advice & Misc. list that week.[33] It also appeared on the Dr. Oz TV show.[34]
The book, while commercially successful due to Ferriss' innovative marketing and his enlistment of his blog readers in a successful effort to manipulate the book's rating on Amazon, was not as well received by some critics.[citation needed] In a rare New York Times review of a self-help book, Dwight Garner wrote, "'The 4-Hour Body' reads as if The New England Journal of Medicine had been hijacked by the editors of the SkyMall catalog."[35]
Ferriss has acknowledged using steroids—including testosterone cypionate, testosterone enanthate, Sustanon 250, and human growth hormone (HGH)—under medical supervision during his recovery from shoulder surgery.[36]
[edit] The 4-Hour Chef
Ferriss' third book, The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life, is set for publication by Amazon in 2012.[37] Ferriss intends the book to be as much about "the skill of learning skills" as cooking food.[38]
References[link]
- ^ Grant, Elaine (March 25, 2008). "4 Questions for Productivity Guru Tim Ferriss". US News and World Report. http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/small-business-entrepreneurs/2008/03/25/4-questions-for-productivity-guru-tim-ferriss.html. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
- ^ New Times Bestseller List Feb. 2008
- ^ # 5: 4 Hour Work Week as of March 30, 2008.
- ^ Streitfeld, David (August 16, 2011). "Amazon Set to Publish Tim Ferriss". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/technology/amazon-set-to-publish-tim-ferriss.html.
- ^ PAW: Alumni Spotlight
- ^ http://s3.amazonaws.com/quarkbase_test.com/brainquicken.com-snapshot.jpg
- ^
- Bowers, Brent (June 13, 2007). "In the Hunt; The Hectic Chronicles". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03EEDA1E31F930A25755C0A9619C8B63.
- Ferriss, Tim (September 5, 2007). "How I Work". CNN Money. http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/04/magazines/fsb/4_hour_week.fsb/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-05. "I run BrainQuicken (brainquicken.com), a six-year-old developer and distributor of sports-nutrition products in San Jose with wholesale customers around the world."
- Tim Ferriss Wants You to Get a Life ABC News. October 11, 2007.
- ^ Warrillow, John (6 October 2010). The Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-money/valuation/timothy-ferriss-and-the-4-hour-exit/article1744976/.
- ^ a b Timothy Ferriss at CrunchBase
- ^ Kingcaid, Jason Feel the DailyBurn TechCrunch. May 26, 2009.
- ^ PAW: Alumni Spotlight. "...Ferris [sic] and Monti executed a jaw-dropping 37 tango spins in a minute. They shattered their own record of 27, set in June 2005 during the tango world championship in Buenos Aires".
- ^ Tim Ferriss (2006). Tango World Record (http://youtube.com/watch?v=H9pWKB2D23k).+Live with Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa.
- ^ "The 7 Commandments of Blogosphere (and Life) Self-Defense", Ferriss' blog, August 2007
- ^ http://www.ikfkickboxing.com/sanshou99.htm
- ^ http://www.williamccchen.com/fyiarchive.htm
- ^ Tweney, Dylan (March 31, 2008). "Tim Ferriss Takes Wired.com's Self-Promotion Prize". Wired. http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/03/tim-ferriss-tak.html. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
- ^ Hannessian, Kevin (February 15, 2008). "Fast Company's Most Innovative Business People of 2007". Fast Company. http://www.fastcompany.com/multimedia/slideshows/content/innovators-2007.html?page=12. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
- ^ Tim Ferriss: Smash fear, learn anything TED. December 2008.
- ^ Marketing Ideas #17 Tim Ferriss Trial by Fire on the History Channel Unconventional Marketing. December 3, 2008.
- ^ The Aspen Institute.Aspen Institute Names 2009 Henry Crown Fellows (press release), March 30, 2009.
- ^ R. della Cava, Marco (2008-01-28). "Services cater to our speeded-up lives". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2008-01-27-speeded-up_N.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
- ^ Ferriss, Tim (March 4, 2008). "I receive 500 to 1,000 emails per day". The Economist. http://www.economist.com/node/10795313. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
- ^ Williams, Alex (November 11, 2007). "Meet the Press". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/fashion/11guru.html?ex=1352610000&en=c84216adfad48b9c&ei=5124&partner=digg&exprod=digg. Retrieved 2008-04-04. "Most fundamentally, Mr. Ferriss turned ruthless against e-mail. "
- ^ a b Dannen, Chris (September 2007). "Seven Questions with the 4-Hour Workweek Evangelist". Fast Company. http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2007/09/4-hour-work-week.html. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
- ^ a b c Ferriss, Timothy The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich' Crown (2007)
- ^ a b c Scoble, Robert (March, 2008). "Meet the Press". Fast Company. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/124/meet-the-press.html. Retrieved 2008-03-21. "A year ago, Timothy Ferriss was a relative unknown. If the serial entrepreneur was known at all, it was likely for being the only Princeton University guest lecturer..."
- ^ Williams, Alex (November 11, 2007). "Meet the Press". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/fashion/11guru.html?ex=1352610000&en=c84216adfad48b9c&ei=5124&partner=digg&exprod=digg. Retrieved 2008-04-04. "...Ferriss has seen his book quickly become a best seller, largely on the strength of blog chatter in the tech community".
- ^ Rubel, Steve. "The 4-Hour Workweek - Behind the Meme". MicroPersuasion.com. http://www.micropersuasion.com/2007/05/the_4hour_workw.html. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
- ^ Technorati profile: 4hww
- ^ Dannen, Chris (September 2007). "Seven Questions with the 4-Hour Workweek Evangelist". Fast Company. http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2007/09/4-hour-work-week.html. Retrieved 2008-04-24. "My blog is on the blogroll of some of the top tech CEOs in the world. "
- ^ Fourhourworkweek.com/Guest Posts [1][2][3][4][5][6] [7]
- ^ http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelellsberg/2012/01/11/the-tim-ferriss-effect/The Tim Ferriss Effect: Lessons From My Successful Book Launch] Forbes.com
- ^ Taylor, Ihsan. "Hardcover". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2011-01-02/hardcover-advice/list.html.
- ^ http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/four-hours-your-perfect-body-pt-1
- ^ Garner, Dwight (January 6, 2011). ""New! Improved! Shape Up Your Life!"". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/books/07book.html?pagewanted=all.
- ^ http://www.askmen.com/celebs/interview_400/493c_tim-ferriss-interview.html
- ^ Streitfeld, David (August 16, 2011). "Amazon Set to Publish Tim Ferriss". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/technology/amazon-set-to-publish-tim-ferriss.html.
- ^ http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2011/11/29/the-4-hour-chef-the-first-kindle-fire-book-teaser/
External links[link]
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Timothy Ferriss |
- Tim Ferriss Blog
- Problogger Interview: with Tim Ferriss
- Former desk slave Tim Ferriss on why you only need to work a four-hour week from The Independent
- Tim Ferriss: The Clock Watcher from The Daily Telegraph
- Tim Ferriss on YouTube
- Better, Faster, Stronger from The New Yorker
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ferriss, Timothy |
| Alternative names | Ferriss, Tim |
| Short description | author, blogger |
| Date of birth | 1977-07-20 |
| Place of birth | East Hampton, NY |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Timothy_Ferriss
Related pages:
http://cs.wn.com/Timothy Ferriss
http://ru.wn.com/Феррисс, Тимоти
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Ferriss
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
Rick Roderick (1949–2002) was an American professor of philosophy, best known for his lectures for The Teaching Company.
Contents |
Life[link]
Roderick was born in Abilene, Texas, son of (by his own description[1]) a "con-man" and a "beautician". He was a teacher of philosophy at several universities, where he was much revered by many students for a socratic style of teaching combined with a brash and often humorous approach. His breakthrough into wider circles came with his engagement with The Teaching Company where he recorded several memorable lecture series. Rick Roderick died in 2002 from a congestive heart condition.
Academic career[link]
Roderick first studied communication (self-admittedly in order to focus on anti-establishment student and anti-war activities[2]), but moved after a few years towards philosophy. He received his B.A. at the University of Texas at Austin, did post-graduate work at Baylor University and finally earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas.
Since 1977, Professor Roderick taught at Baylor University, the University of Texas, Duke University and National University in Los Angeles. He was the recipient of the Oldright Fellowship at the University of Texas and served as associate editor to The Pawn Review and Current Perspectives in Social Theory. Dr. Roderick was the editor of the Baylor Philosophy Journal and a member of the Phi Sigma Tau National Honor Society of Philosophy. He presented more than 25 papers, and published 13 reviews and literary criticisms, as well as numerous articles in professional journals.
Roderick was the author of the book Habermas and the Foundations of Critical Theory (1986), which has been translated to German as: Habermas und das Problem der Rationalität. Eine Werkmonographie (1989).
Selected publications[link]
- 1986, Habermas and the foundations of critical theory, Macmillan, 194 pages. ISBN 0-333-39655-3
- 1986, Rick Roderick - Reading Derrida Politically (Contra Rorty), PRAXIS International, issue: 4 / 1986
The Teaching Company series[link]
- "Philosophy and Human Values", 1990
- "Nietzsche and the Post-Modern Condition", 1991
- "Self Under Siege - Philosophy in the 20th Century", 1993
- "Mill on Liberty", guest lecture from "The Great Minds of Western Intellectual Tradition" (1st ed), Part IV, Philosophy in the Epoch of Ideology, 2000
See also[link]
References[link]
External links[link]
- http://rickroderick.org - Video clips and transcripts
- Download Rick Roderick lecture series in video and audio format
- What happened to Rick Roderick?: The Bill Hicks of Philosophy – lectures and other material can be found here
- Rick Roderick's page at The Teaching Company
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Roderick, Rick |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 1949 |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | 2002 |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Rick_Roderick
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Roderick
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
Not to be confused with Aurelian.
| Marcus Aurelius | |
|---|---|
| 16th Emperor of the Roman Empire | |
 Bust of Marcus Aurelius in the Glyptothek, Munich |
|
| Reign | 8 March 161–169 (with Lucius Verus); 169–177 (alone); 177 – March 180 (with Commodus) |
| Full name |
Marcus Annius Catilius Severus (as emperor) |
| Born | (121-04-26)26 April 121 |
| Birthplace | Rome |
| Died | 17 March 180(180-03-17) (aged 58) |
| Place of death | Vindobona or Sirmium |
| Buried | Hadrian's Mausoleum |
| Predecessor | Antoninus Pius |
| Successor | Commodus (alone) |
| Consort to | Faustina the Younger |
| Dynasty | Antonine |
| Father | Marcus Annius Verus |
| Mother | Domitia Lucilla |
| Children | 13, incl. Commodus, Marcus Annius Verus, Antoninus and Lucilla |
Marcus Aurelius (Latin: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus;[1][notes 1] 26 April 121 – 17 March 180 AD), was Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus' death in 169. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers. During his reign, the Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire; Aurelius' general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. Aurelius fought the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians with success during the Marcomannic Wars, but the threat of the Germanic tribes began to represent a troubling reality for the Empire. A revolt in the East led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately.
Marcus Aurelius' Stoic tome Meditations, written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a philosophy of service and duty, describing how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration.
Contents
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Sources[link]
The major sources for the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable. The most important group of sources, the biographies contained in the Historia Augusta, claim to be written by a group of authors at the turn of the 4th century, but are in fact written by a single author (referred to here as "the biographer") from the later 4th century (c. 395). The later biographies and the biographies of subordinate emperors and usurpers are a tissue of lies and fiction, but the earlier biographies, derived primarily from now-lost earlier sources (Marius Maximus or Ignotus), are much better.[4] For Marcus' life and rule, the biographies of Hadrian, Pius, Marcus and Lucius Verus are largely reliable, but those of Aelius Verus and Avidius Cassius are full of fiction.[5]
Tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c. 138 to 166.[6] Marcus' own Meditations offer a window on his inner life, but are largely undateable, and make few specific references to worldly affairs.[7] The main narrative source for the period is Cassius Dio, a Greek senator from Bithynian Nicaea who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty books. Dio is vital for the military history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices and strong opposition to imperial expansion obscure his perspective.[8] Some other literary sources provide specific detail: the writings of the physician Galen on the habits of the Antonine elite, the orations of Aelius Aristides on the temper of the times, and the constitutions preserved in the Digest and Codex Justinianus on Marcus' legal work.[9] Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the literary sources.[10]
Early life and career[link]
Main article: Early life and career of Marcus Aurelius
Family, childhood, and early education, 121–136[link]
Marcus' family originated in Ucubi, a small town southeast of Córdoba in Iberian Baetica. The family rose to prominence in the late 1st century AD. Marcus' great-grandfather Marcus Annius Verus (I) was a senator and (according to the Historia Augusta) ex-praetor; in 73–74, his grandfather, Marcus Annius Verus (II), was made a patrician.[11][notes 2] Verus' elder son—Marcus Aurelius' father—Marcus Annius Verus (III) married Domitia Lucilla.[14] Lucilla was the daughter of the patrician P. Calvisius Tullus Ruso and the elder Domitia Lucilla. The elder Domitia Lucilla had inherited a great fortune (described at length in one of Pliny's letters) from her maternal grandfather and her paternal grandfather by adoption.[15] The younger Lucilla would acquire much of her mother's wealth, including a large brickworks on the outskirts of Rome—a profitable enterprise in an era when the city was experiencing a construction boom.[16]
Lucilla and Verus (III) had two children: a son, Marcus, born on 26 April 121, and a daughter, Annia Cornificia Faustina, probably born in 122 or 123.[18] Verus (III) probably died in 124, during his praetorship, when Marcus was only three years old.[19][notes 3] Though he can hardly have known him, Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations that he had learned "modesty and manliness" from his memories of his father and from the man's posthumous reputation.[21] Lucilla did not remarry.[19] Lucilla, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably did not spend much time with her son. Marcus was in the care of "nurses".[22] Marcus credits his mother with teaching him "religious piety, simplicity in diet" and how to avoid "the ways of the rich".[23] In his letters, Marcus makes frequent and affectionate reference to her; he was grateful that, "although she was fated to die young, yet she spent her last years with me".[24]
After his father's death, Aurelius was adopted by his paternal grandfather Marcus Annius Verus (II).[25] Another man, Lucius Catilius Severus, also participated in his upbringing. Severus is described as Marcus' "maternal great-grandfather"; he is probably the stepfather of the elder Lucilla.[25] Marcus was raised in his parents' home on the Caelian Hill, a district he would affectionately refer to as "my Caelian".[26] It was an upscale region, with few public buildings but many aristocratic villas. Marcus' grandfather owned his own palace beside the Lateran, where Marcus would spend much of his childhood.[27] Marcus thanks his grandfather for teaching him "good character and avoidance of bad temper".[28] He was less fond of the mistress his grandfather took and lived with after the death of Rupilia Faustina, his wife.[29] Marcus was grateful that he did not have to live with her longer than he did.[30]
Marcus was taught at home, in line with contemporary aristocratic trends;[31] Marcus thanks Catilius Severus for encouraging him to avoid public schools.[32] One of his teachers, Diognetus, a painting-master, proved particularly influential; he seems to have introduced Marcus to the philosophic way of life.[33] In April 132, at the behest of Diognetus, Marcus took up the dress and habits of the philosopher: he studied while wearing a rough Greek cloak, and would sleep on the ground until his mother convinced him to sleep on a bed.[34] A new set of tutors—Alexander of Cotiaeum, Trosius Aper, and Tuticius Proculus[notes 4]—took over Marcus' education in about 132 or 133.[36] Little is known of the latter two (both teachers of Latin), but Alexander was a major littérateur, the leading Homeric scholar of his day.[37] Marcus thanks Alexander for his training in literary styling.[38] Alexander's influence—an emphasis on matter over style, on careful wording, with the occasional Homeric quotation—has been detected in Marcus' Meditations.[39]
Civic duties and family connections, 127–36[link]
In 127, at the age of six, Marcus was enrolled in the equestrian order on the recommendation of Emperor Hadrian. Though this was not completely unprecedented, and other children are known to have joined the order, Marcus was still unusually young. In 128, Marcus was enrolled in the priestly college of the Salii. Since the standard qualifications for the college were not met—Marcus did not have two living parents—they must have been waived by Hadrian, Marcus' nominator, as a special favor to the child.[41] Hadrian had a strong affection for the child, and nicknamed him Verissimus, "most true".[42][notes 5] Marcus took his religious duties seriously. He rose through the offices of the priesthood, becoming in turn the leader of the dance, the vates (prophet), and the master of the order.[44]
Hadrian did not see much of Marcus in his childhood. He spent most of his time outside Rome, on the frontier, or dealing with administrative and local affairs in the provinces.[notes 6] By 135, however, he had returned to Italy for good. He had grown close to Lucius Ceionius Commodus, husband of the daughter of Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, a dear friend of Trajan who was executed for attempting to overthrow Hadrian early in his reign. In 136, shortly after Marcus assumed the toga virilis symbolizing his passage into manhood, Hadrian arranged for his engagement to one of Commodus' daughters, Ceionia Fabia.[46] Marcus was made prefect of the city during the feriae Latinae soon after (he was probably appointed by Commodus). Although the office held no real administrative significance—the full-time prefect remained in office during the festival—it remained a prestigious office for young aristocrats and members of the imperial family. Marcus conducted himself well at the job.[47]
Through Commodus, Marcus met Apollonius of Chalcedon, a Stoic philosopher. Apollonius had taught Commodus, and would have an enormous impact on Marcus, who would later study with him regularly. He is one of only three people Marcus thanks the gods for having met.[48] At about this time, Marcus' younger sister, Annia Cornificia, married Ummidius Quadratus, her first cousin. Domitia Lucilla asked Marcus to give part of his father's inheritance to his sister. He agreed to give her all of it, content as he was with his grandfather's estate.[49]
Succession to Hadrian, 136–38[link]
In late 136, Hadrian almost died from hemorrhage. Convalescent in his villa at Tivoli, he selected Lucius Ceionius Commodus as his successor, and adopted him as his son.[50] The selection was done invitis omnibus, "against the wishes of everyone";[51] its rationale is still unclear.[52] After a brief stationing on the Danube frontier, Lucius returned to Rome to make an address to the senate on the first day of 138. The night before the speech, however, he grew ill, and died of a hemorrhage later in the day.[53][notes 7] On 24 January 138, Hadrian selected Aurelius Antoninus as his new successor.[55] After a few days' consideration, Antoninus accepted. He was adopted on 25 February. As part of Hadrian's terms, Antoninus adopted Marcus and Lucius Commodus, the son of Aelius. Marcus became M. Aelius Aurelius Verus; Lucius became L. Aelius Aurelius Commodus. At Hadrian's request, Antoninus' daughter Faustina was betrothed to Lucius.[56] Marcus was appalled to learn that Hadrian had adopted him. Only with reluctance did he move from his mother's house on the Caelian to Hadrian's private home.[57]
At some time in 138, Hadrian 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, consul for 139.[58] Marcus' adoption diverted him from the typical career path of his class. But for his adoption, he probably would have become triumvir monetalis, a highly regarded post involving token administration of the state mint; after that, he could have served as tribune with a legion, becoming 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."[59]
After a series of suicide attempts, all thwarted by Antoninus, Hadrian left for Baiae, a 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 138.[61] His remains were buried quietly at Puteoli.[62] The succession to Antoninus was peaceful and stable: Antoninus kept Hadrian's nominees in office and appeased the senate, respecting its privileges and commuting the death sentences of men charged in Hadrian's last days.[63] For his dutiful behavior, Antoninus was asked to accept the name "Pius".[64]
Heir to Antoninus Pius, 138–45[link]
Immediately after Hadrian's death, Antoninus approached Marcus and requested that his marriage arrangements be amended: Marcus' betrothal to Ceionia Fabia would be annulled, and he would be betrothed to Faustina, Antoninus' daughter, instead. Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus' proposal.[65]
Pius bolstered Marcus' dignity: Marcus was made consul for 140, with Pius as his colleague, and was appointed as a seviri, one of the knights' six commanders, at the order's annual parade on 15 July 139. As the heir apparent, Marcus became princeps iuventutis, head of the equestrian order. He now took the name Caesar: Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar.[66] Marcus would later caution himself against taking the name too seriously: "See that you do not turn into a Caesar; do not be dipped into the purple dye—for that can happen".[67] At the senate's request, Marcus joined all the priestly colleges (pontifices, augures, quindecimviri sacris faciundis, septemviri epulonum, etc.);[68] direct evidence for membership, however, is available only for the Arval Brethren.[69]
Pius demanded that Marcus take up residence in the House of Tiberius, the imperial palace on the Palatine. Pius also made him take up the habits of his new station, the aulicum fastigium or "pomp of the court", against Marcus' objections.[68] Marcus would struggle to reconcile the life of the court with his philosophic yearnings. 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"[70]—but he found it difficult nonetheless. He would criticize himself in the Meditations for "abusing court life" in front of company.[71]
As quaestor, Marcus would have had little real administrative work to do. He would read imperial letters to the senate when Pius was absent, and would do secretarial work for the senators. His duties as consul were more significant: one of two senior representatives of the senate, he would preside over meetings and take a major role in the body's administrative functions.[72] He felt drowned in paperwork, and complained to his tutor, Fronto: "I am so out of breath from dictating nearly thirty letters".[73] He was being "fitted for ruling the state", in the words of his biographer.[74] He was required to make a speech to the assembled senators as well, making oratorical training essential for the job.[75]
On 1 January 145, Marcus was made consul a second time. He might have been unwell at this time: a letter from Fronto that might have been sent at this time urges Marcus 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".[76] Marcus had complained of an illness in an earlier letter: "As far as my strength is concerned, I am beginning to get it back; and there is no trace of the pain in my chest. But that ulcer [...][notes 8] I am having treatment and taking care not to do anything that interferes with it."[77] Marcus was never particularly healthy or strong. The Roman historian Cassius Dio, writing of his later years, praised him for behaving dutifully in spite of his various illnesses.[78]
In April 145, Marcus married Faustina, as had been planned since 138. Since Marcus was, by adoption, Pius' son, under Roman law he was marrying his sister; Pius would have had to formally release one or the other from his paternal authority (his patria potestas) for the ceremony to take place.[79] Little is specifically known of the ceremony, but it is said to have been "noteworthy".[80] Coins were issued with the heads of the couple, and Pius, as Pontifex Maximus, would have officiated. Marcus makes no apparent reference to the marriage in his surviving letters, and only sparing references to Faustina.[81]
Fronto and further education, 136–61[link]
After taking the toga virilis in 136, Marcus probably began his training in oratory.[82] He had three tutors in Greek, Aninus Macer, Caninius Celer, and Herodes Atticus, and one in Latin, Fronto. (Fronto and Atticus, however, probably did not become his tutors until his adoption by Antoninus in 138.) The preponderance of Greek tutors indicates the importance of the language to the aristocracy of Rome.[83] This was the age of the Second Sophistic, a renaissance in Greek letters. Although educated in Rome, in his Meditations, Marcus would write his inmost thoughts in Greek.[84] The latter two were the most esteemed orators of the day.[85]
Herodes was controversial: an enormously rich Athenian (probably the richest man in the eastern half of the empire), he was quick to anger, and resented by his fellow-Athenians for his patronizing manner.[86] Atticus was an inveterate opponent of Stoicism and philosophic pretensions.[87] He thought the Stoics' desire for a "lack of feeling" foolish: they would live a "sluggish, enervated life", he said.[88] Marcus would become a Stoic. He would not mention Herodes at all in his Meditations, in spite of the fact that they would come into contact many times over the following decades.[89] Fronto was highly esteemed: In the self-consciously antiquarian world of Latin letters,[90] he was thought of as second only to Cicero, perhaps even an alternative to him.[91][notes 9] He did not care much for Herodes, though Marcus was eventually to put the pair on speaking terms. Fronto exercised a complete mastery of Latin, capable of tracing expressions through the literature, producing obscure synonyms, and challenging minor improprieties in word choice.[91]
A significant amount of the correspondence between Fronto and Marcus has survived.[95] The pair were very close. "Farewell my Fronto, wherever you are, my most sweet love and delight. How is it between you and me? I love you and you are not here."[96] Marcus spent time with Fronto's wife and daughter, both named Cratia, and they enjoyed light conversation.[97] 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 learned of literature, he would learn "from the lips of Fronto".[98] His prayers for Fronto's health were more than conventional, because Fronto was frequently ill; at times, he seems to be an almost constant invalid, always suffering[99]—about one quarter of the surviving letters deal with the man's sicknesses.[100] Marcus asks that Fronto's pain be inflicted on himself, "of my own accord with every kind of discomfort".[101]
Fronto never became Marcus' full-time teacher, and continued his career as an advocate. One notorious case brought him into conflict with Herodes.[102] Marcus pleaded with Fronto, first with "advice", then as a "favor", not to attack Herodes; he had already asked Herodes to refrain from making the first blows.[103] Fronto replied that he was surprised to discover Marcus counted Herodes as a friend (perhaps Herodes was not yet Marcus' tutor), allowed that Marcus might be correct,[104] but nonetheless affirmed his intent to win the case by any means necessary: "...the charges are frightful and must be spoken of as frightful. Those in particular which refer to the beating and robbing I will describe in such a way 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."[105] The outcome of the trial is unknown.[106]
By the age of twenty-five (between April 146 and April 147), Marcus had grown disaffected with his studies in jurisprudence, and 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."[107] Marcus had grown tired of his exercises, of taking positions in imaginary debates. When he criticized the insincerity of conventional language, Fronto took to defend it.[108] In any case, Marcus' formal education was now over. 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' entire boyhood.[109]
Fronto had warned Marcus against the study of philosophy early on: "it is better never to have touched the teaching of philosophy...than to have tasted it superficially, with the edge of the lips, as the saying is".[110] He disdained philosophy and philosophers, and looked down on Marcus' sessions with Apollonius of Chalcedon and others in this circle.[95] Fronto put an uncharitable interpretation of Marcus' "conversion to philosophy": "in the fashion of the young, tired of boring work", Marcus had turned to philosophy to escape the constant exercises of oratorical training.[111] Marcus kept in close touch with Fronto, but he would ignore his scruples.[112]
Apollonius may have introduced Marcus to Stoic philosophy, but Quintus Junius Rusticus would have the strongest influence on the boy.[113][notes 10] He was the man Fronto recognized as having "wooed Marcus away" from oratory.[115] He was twenty years older than Marcus, older than Fronto. As the grandson of Arulenus Rusticus, one of the martyrs to the tyranny of Domitian (r. 81–96), he was heir to the tradition of "Stoic opposition" to the "bad emperors" of the 1st century;[116] the true successor of Seneca (as opposed to Fronto, the false one).[117] Marcus thanks Rusticus for teaching him "not to be led astray into enthusiasm for rhetoric, for writing on speculative themes, for discoursing on moralizing texts...To avoid oratory, poetry, and 'fine writing'".[118]
Births and deaths, 147–160[link]
On 30 November 147, Faustina gave birth to a girl, named Domitia Faustina. She was the first of at least fourteen children (including two sets of twins) that Faustina would bear over the next twenty-three years. The next day, 1 December, Pius gave Marcus the tribunician power and the imperium—authority over the armies and provinces of the emperor. As tribune, Marcus had the right to bring one measure before the senate after the four Pius could introduce. His tribunican powers would be renewed, with Pius', on 10 December 147.[119]
The first mention of Domitia in Marcus' letters reveals her as a sickly infant. "Caesar to Fronto. 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.[120] Domitia would die in 151.[121]
In 149, Faustina 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 Hadrian, where their epitaphs survive. They were called Titus Aurelius Antoninus and Tiberius Aelius Aurelius.[122]
Marcus steadied himself: "One man prays: 'How I may not lose my little child', but you must pray: 'How I may not be afraid to lose him'."[123] He quoted from the Iliad what he called the "briefest and most familiar saying...enough to dispel sorrow and fear":
<poem> leaves, the wind scatters some on the face of the ground; like unto them are the children of men.</poem> – Iliad 6.146[124]
Another daughter was born on 7 March 150, Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla. At some time between 155 and 161, probably soon after 155, Marcus' mother, Domitia Lucilla, died.[125] Faustina probably had another daughter in 151, but the child, Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina, might not have been born until 153.[126] Another son, Tiberius Aelius Antoninus, was born in 152. A coin issue celebrates fecunditati Augustae, "the Augusta's fertility", depicting two girls and an infant. The boy did not survive long; on coins from 156, only the two girls were depicted. He might have died in 152, the same year as Marcus' sister, Cornificia.[127]
By 28 March 158, however, when Marcus replied, the child was dead. Marcus thanked the temple synod, "even though this turned out otherwise". The child's name is unknown.[128] In 159 and 160, Faustina gave birth to daughters: Fadilla, after one of Faustina's dead sisters, and Cornificia, after Marcus' dead sister.[129]
Pius' last years, 152–61[link]
In 152, Lucius was named quaestor for 153, two years before the legal age of 25 (Marcus held the office at 17). In 154, he was consul, nine years before the legal age of 32 (Marcus held the office at 18 and 23). Lucius had no other titles, except that of "son of Augustus". Lucius had a markedly different personality than Marcus: he enjoyed sports of all kinds, but especially hunting and wrestling; he took obvious pleasure in the circus games and gladiatorial fights.[130][notes 11] He did not marry until 164. Pius was not fond of his adopted son's interests. He would keep Lucius in the family, but he was sure never to give the boy either power or glory.[134] To take a typical example, Lucius would not appear on Alexandrian coinage until 160/1.[135]
In 156, Pius turned 70. 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 Pius aged, Marcus would have taken on more administrative duties, more still when the praetorian prefect (an office that was as much secretarial as military) Gavius Maximus died in 156 or 157.[136] In 160, Marcus and Lucius were designated joint consuls for the following year. Perhaps Pius was already ill; in any case, he died before the year was out.[129] Two days before his death, the biographer records, Pius was at his ancestral estate in Lorium. He ate Alpine cheese at dinner quite greedily. In the night he vomited; he had a fever the next day. The day after that, 7 March 161,[137] he summoned the imperial council, and passed the state and his daughter to Marcus. He ordered that the golden statue of Fortune, which had been in the bedroom of the emperors, should go to Marcus' bedroom. Pius turned over, as if going to sleep, and died.[138]
Emperor[link]
Main article: Emperorship of Marcus Aurelius
Accession of Marcus and Lucius, 161[link]
After the death of Antoninus Pius, Marcus 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 imperator, and he would soon be formally elected as Pontifex Maximus, chief priest of the official cults. Marcus made some show of resistance: the biographer writes that he was "compelled" to take imperial power.[139] This may have been a genuine horror imperii, "fear of 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. It was his duty.[140]
Although Marcus shows no personal affection for Hadrian (significantly, he does not thank him in the first book of his Meditations), he presumably believed it his duty to enact the man's succession plans.[141] Thus, although the senate planned to confirm Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers.[142] The senate accepted, granting Lucius the imperium, the tribunician power, and the name Augustus.[143] Marcus became, in official titulature, Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; Lucius, forgoing his name Commodus and taking Marcus' family name, Verus, became Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus.[144][notes 12] It was the first time that Rome was ruled by two emperors.[147][notes 13]
In spite of their nominal equality, Marcus held more auctoritas, or "authority", than Lucius. He had been consul once more than Lucius, he had shared in Pius' administration, and he alone was Pontifex Maximus. It would have been clear to the public which emperor was the more senior.[147] As the biographer wrote, "Verus obeyed Marcus...as a lieutenant obeys a proconsul or a governor obeys the emperor."[148]
Immediately after their senate confirmation, the emperors proceeded to the Castra Praetoria, the camp of the praetorian guard. Lucius addressed the assembled troops, which then acclaimed the pair as imperatores. Then, like every new emperor since Claudius, Lucius promised the troops a special donative.[149] This donative, however, was twice the size of those past: 20,000 sesterces (5,000 denarii) per capita, with more to officers. In return for this bounty, equivalent to several years' pay, the troops swore an oath to protect the emperors.[150] The ceremony was perhaps not entirely necessary, given that Marcus' accession had been peaceful and unopposed, but it was good insurance against later military troubles.[151]
Upon his accession he also devalued the Roman currency. He decreased the silver purity of the denarius from 83.5% to 79% — the silver weight dropping from 2.68 grams to 2.57 grams.[152] However, Marcus would later revisit the issue of currency reform.
Pius' funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer, "elaborate".[153] If his funeral followed the pattern of past funerals, his body would have been incinerated on a pyre at the Campus Martius, while his spirit would rise to the gods' home in the heavens. Marcus and Lucius nominated their father for deification. In contrast to their behavior during Pius' campaign to deify Hadrian, the senate did not oppose the emperors' wishes. A flamen, or cultic priest, was appointed to minister the cult of the deified Pius, now Divus Antoninus. Pius' remains were laid to rest in the Hadrian's mausoleum, beside the remains of Marcus' children and of Hadrian himself.[154] The temple he had dedicated to his wife, Diva Faustina, became the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. It survives as the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda.[151]
In accordance with his will, Pius' fortune passed on to Faustina.[155] (Marcus had little need of his wife's fortune. Indeed, at his accession, Marcus transferred part of his mother's estate to his nephew, Ummius Quadratus.[156]) Faustina was three months pregnant at her husband's accession. During the pregnancy she dreamed of giving birth to two serpents, one fiercer than the other.[157] On 31 August she gave birth at Lanuvium to twins: T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus.[158][notes 14] Aside from the fact that the twins shared Caligula's birthday, the omens were favorable, and the astrologers drew positive horoscopes for the children.[160] The births were celebrated on the imperial coinage.[161]
Early rule, 161–62[link]
Soon after the emperors' accession, Marcus' eleven-year-old daughter, Annia Lucilla, was betrothed to Lucius (in spite of the fact that he was, formally, her uncle).[162] At the ceremonies commemorating the event, new provisions were made for the support of poor children, along the lines of earlier imperial foundations.[163] Marcus and Lucius proved popular with the people of Rome, who strongly approved of their civiliter ("lacking pomp") behavior. The emperors permitted free speech, evinced by the fact that the comedy writer Marullus was able to criticize them without suffering retribution. At any other time, under any other emperor, he would have been executed. But it was a peaceful time, a forgiving time. And thus, as the biographer wrote, "No one missed the lenient ways of Pius."[164]
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.[165] Lucius Volusius Maecianus, Marcus' former tutor, had been prefectural governor of Egypt at Marcus' accession. Maecianus was recalled, made senator, and appointed prefect of the treasury (aerarium Saturni). He was made consul soon after.[166] Fronto's son-in-law, Aufidius Victorinus, was appointed governor of Upper Germany.[167]
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.[168] The tutor was immensely proud of his students. Reflecting on the speech he had written on taking his consulship in 143, when 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."[169] Fronto called on Marcus alone; neither thought to invite Lucius.[170]
File:Tiber in flood 2.jpg
Tiber Island seen at a forty-year high-water mark of the Tiber, 13 December 2008
Lucius was less esteemed by his tutor 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.[171] Marcus told Fronto of his reading—Coelius and a little Cicero—and his family. 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."[172] Marcus' early reign proceeded smoothly. Marcus was able to give himself wholly to philosophy and the pursuit of popular affection.[173] Soon, however, Marcus would find he had many anxieties. It would mean the end of the felicitas temporum ("happy times") that the coinage of 161 had so glibly proclaimed.[174]
In the spring of 162,[notes 15] the Tiber flooded over its banks, destroying much of Rome. It drowned many animals, leaving the city in famine. Marcus and Lucius gave the crisis their personal attention.[176][notes 16] In other times of famine, the emperors are said to have provided for the Italian communities out of the Roman granaries.[178]
Fronto's letters continued through Marcus' early reign. Fronto felt that, because of Marcus' 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".[179] Fronto would again remind his pupil of the tension between his role and his philosophic pretensions: "Suppose, Caesar, that you can attain to the wisdom of Cleanthes and Zeno, yet, against your will, not the philosopher's woolen cape."[180] The early days of Marcus' reign were the happiest of Fronto's life: his pupil was beloved by the people of Rome, an excellent emperor, a fond pupil, and, perhaps most importantly, as eloquent as could be wished.[181] Marcus had displayed rhetorical skill in his speech to the senate after an earthquake at Cyzicus. 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.[182]
War with Parthia, 161–66[link]
- For details, see: Roman–Parthian War of 161–66. See also: Roman–Persian Wars
Origins to Lucius' dispatch, 161–62[link]
On his deathbed, Pius spoke of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who had wronged him.[183] One of those kings, Vologases IV of Parthia, made his move in late summer or early autumn 161.[184] Vologases entered the Kingdom of Armenia (then a Roman client state), expelled its king and installed his own—Pacorus, an Arsacid like himself.[185] The governor of Cappadocia, the front-line in all Armenian conflicts, was Marcus Sedatius Severianus, a Gaul with much experience in military matters.[186] Convinced by the prophet Alexander of Abonutichus that he could defeat the Parthians easily, and win glory for himself,[187] Severianus led a legion (perhaps the IX Hispana[188]) into Armenia, but was trapped by the great Parthian general Chosrhoes at Elegia, a town just beyond the Cappadocian frontiers, high up past the headwaters of the Euphrates. Severianus made some attempt to fight Chosrhoes, but soon realized the futility of his campaign, and committed suicide. His legion was massacred. The campaign had only lasted three days.[189]
There was threat of war on other frontiers as well—in Britain, and in Raetia and Upper Germany, where the Chatti of the Taunus mountains had recently crossed over the limes.[190] Marcus was unprepared. Pius seems to have given him no military experience; the biographer writes that Marcus spent the whole of Pius' twenty-three-year reign at his emperor's side—and not in the provinces, where most previous emperors had spent their early careers.[191][notes 17]
More bad news arrived: the Syrian governor's army had been defeated by the Parthians, and retreated in disarray.[193] Reinforcements were dispatched for the Parthian frontier. P. Julius Geminius Marcianus, an African senator commanding X Gemina at Vindobona (Vienna), left for Cappadocia with detachments from the Danubian legions.[194] Three full legions were also sent east: I Minervia from Bonn in Upper Germany,[195] II Adiutrix from Aquincum,[196] and V Macedonica from Troesmis.[197] The northern frontiers were strategically weakened; frontier governors were told to avoid conflict wherever possible.[198] M. Annius Libo, Marcus' first cousin, was sent to replace the Syrian governor. He was young—his first consulship was in 161, so he was probably in his early thirties[199]—and, as a mere patrician, lacked military experience. Marcus had chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one.[200]
Marcus took a four-day public holiday at Alsium, a resort town on the Etrurian coast. He was too anxious to relax. Writing to Fronto, he declared that he would not speak about his holiday.[201] Fronto replied ironically: "What? Do I not know that you went to Alsium with the intention of devoting yourself to games, joking and complete leisure for four whole days?"[202] He encouraged Marcus to rest, calling on the example of his predecessors (Pius had enjoyed exercise in the palaestra, fishing, and comedy),[203] going so far as to write up a fable about the gods' division of the day between morning and evening—Marcus had apparently been spending most of his evenings on judicial matters instead of at leisure.[204] Marcus could not take Fronto's advice. "I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off," he wrote back.[205] Marcus put on Fronto's voice to chastise himself: "'Much good has my advice done you', you will say!" He had rested, and would rest often, but "—this devotion to duty! Who knows better than you how demanding it is!"[206]
Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material,[207] and, to settle his unease over the course of the Parthian war, a long and considered letter, full of historical references. In modern editions of Fronto's works, it is labeled De bello Parthico (On the Parthian War). There had been reverses in Rome's past, Fronto writes,[208] but, in the end, Romans had always prevailed over their enemies: "always and everywhere [Mars] has changed our troubles into successes and our terrors into triumphs".[209]
Lucius at Antioch, 162–65[link]
Over the winter of 161–62, as more bad news arrived—a rebellion was brewing in Syria—it was decided that Lucius should direct the Parthian war in person. He was stronger and healthier than Marcus, the argument went, more suited to military activity.[211] Lucius' biographer suggests ulterior motives: to restrain Lucius' debaucheries, to make him thrifty, to reform his morals by the terror of war, to realize that he was an emperor.[212][notes 18] Whatever the case, the senate gave its assent, and, in the summer of 162, Lucius left. Marcus would remain in Rome; the city "demanded the presence of an emperor".[214]
Lucius spent most of the campaign in Antioch, though he wintered at Laodicea[disambiguation needed 
] and summered at Daphne, a resort just outside Antioch.[215] Critics declaimed Lucius' luxurious lifestyle.[216] He had taken to gambling, they said; he would "dice the whole night through".[217] He enjoyed the company of actors.[218][notes 19] Libo died early in the war; perhaps Lucius had murdered him.[220]
In the middle of the war, perhaps in autumn 163 or early 164, Lucius made a trip to Ephesus to be married to Marcus' daughter Lucilla.[221] Marcus moved up the date; perhaps he had already heard of Lucius' mistress, the low-born and beautiful Panthea.[222] Lucilla's thirteenth birthday was in March 163; whatever the date of her marriage, she was not yet fifteen.[223] Lucilla was accompanied by her mother Faustina and M. Vettulenus Civica Barbarus, the half-brother of Lucius' father.[224] Civica was made comes Augusti, "companion of the emperors"; perhaps Marcus wanted him to watch over Lucius, the job Libo had failed at.[225]
Marcus may have planned to accompany them all the way to Smyrna (the biographer says he told the senate he would); this did not happen.[226] Marcus only accompanied the group as far as Brundisium, where they boarded a ship for the east.[227] Marcus returned to Rome immediately thereafter, and sent out special instructions to his proconsuls not to give the group any official reception.[228]
Counterattack and victory, 163–66[link]
The Armenian capital Artaxata was captured in 163.[229] At the end of the year, Verus took the title Armeniacus, despite having never seen combat; Marcus declined to accept the title until the following year.[230] When Lucius was hailed as imperator again, however, Marcus did not hesitate to take the Imperator II with him.[231]
Occupied Armenia was reconstructed on Roman terms. In 164, a new capital, Kaine Polis ('New City'), replaced Artaxata.[232] A new king was installed: a Roman senator of consular rank and Arsacid descent, Gaius Julius Sohaemus. He may not even have been crowned in Armenia; the ceremony may have taken place in Antioch, or even Ephesus.[233] Sohaemus was hailed on the imperial coinage of 164 under the legend Rex armeniis Datus: Lucius sat on a throne with his staff while Sohamenus stood before him, saluting the emperor.[234]
In 163, the Parthians intervened in Osroene, a Roman client in upper Mesopotamia centered on Edessa, and installed their own king on its throne.[235] In response, Roman forces were moved downstream, to cross the Euphrates at a more southerly point.[236] Before the end of 163, however, Roman forces had moved north to occupy Dausara and Nicephorium on the northern, Parthian bank.[237] Soon after the conquest of the north bank of the Euphrates, other Roman forces moved on Osroene from Armenia, taking Anthemusia, a town south-west of Edessa.[238]
In 165, Roman forces moved on Mesopotamia. Edessa was re-occupied, and Mannus, the king deposed by the Parthians, was re-installed.[239] The Parthians retreated to Nisibis, but this too was besieged and captured. The Parthian army dispersed in the Tigris.[240] A second force, under Avidius Cassius and the III Gallica, moved down the Euphrates, and fought a major battle at Dura.[241] By the end of the year, Cassius' army had reached the twin metropolises of Mesopotamia: Seleucia on the right bank of the Tigris and Ctesiphon on the left. Ctesiphon was taken and its royal palace set to flame. The citizens of Seleucia, still largely Greek (the city had been commissioned and settled as a capital of the Seleucid Empire, one of Alexander the Great's successor kingdoms), opened its gates to the invaders. The city got sacked nonetheless, leaving a black mark on Lucius' reputation. Excuses were sought, or invented: the official version had it that the Seleucids broke faith first.[242]
Cassius' army, although suffering from a shortage of supplies and the effects of a plague contracted in Seleucia, made it back to Roman territory safely.[243] Lucius took the title Parthicus Maximus, and he and Marcus were hailed as imperatores again, earning the title 'imp. III'.[244] Cassius' army returned to the field in 166, crossing over the Tigris into Media. Lucius took the title 'Medicus',[245] and the emperors were again hailed as imperatores, becoming 'imp. IV' in imperial titulature. Marcus took the Parthicus Maximus now, after another tactful delay.[246]
Conclusion of the war and events at Rome, mid-160s–167[link]
Most of the credit for the war's success must be ascribed to subordinate generals, the most prominent of which was C. Avidius Cassius, commander of III Gallica, one of the Syrian legions. Cassius was a young senator of low birth from the north Syrian town of Cyrrhus. His father, Heliodorus, had not been a senator, but was nonetheless a man of some standing: he had been Hadrian's ab epistulis, followed the emperor on his travels, and was prefect of Egypt at the end of Hadrian's reign. Cassius also, with no small sense of self-worth, claimed descent from the Seleucid kings.[247] Cassius and his fellow commander in the war, Martius Verus, still probably in their mid-thirties, took the consulships for 166. After their consulships, they were made governors: Cassius, of Syria; Martius Verus, of Cappadocia.[248]
At Rome, Marcus was occupied with family matters. Matidia, his great-aunt, had died. However, her will was invalid under the lex Falcidia: Matidia had assigned more than three-quarters of her estate to non-relatives. This was because many of her clients were included in codicils to her will. Matidia had never confirmed the documents, but as she was dying, her clients had sealed them in with the original, making them valid. Fronto urged Marcus to push the family's case, but Marcus demurred, saying his brother would make the final decision.[249][notes 20]
On the return from the campaign, Lucius was awarded with a triumph; the parade was unusual because it included the two emperors, their sons and unmarried daughters as a big family celebration. Marcus Aurelius' two sons, Commodus five years old and Annius Verus of three, were elevated to the status of Caesar for the occasion.
The returning army carried with them a plague, afterwards known as the Antonine Plague, or the Plague of Galen, which spread through the Roman Empire between 165 and 180. The disease was a pandemic believed to be either of smallpox or measles, and would ultimately claim the lives of two Roman emperors—Lucius Verus, who died in 169, and Marcus Aurelius, whose family name, Antoninus, was given to the epidemic. The disease broke out again nine years later, according to the Roman historian Dio Cassius, and caused up to 2,000 deaths a day at Rome, one quarter of those infected. Total deaths have been estimated at five million.
A possible contact with Han China occurred in 166 when a Roman traveller visited the Han court, claiming to be an ambassador representing a certain Andun (Chinese: 安敦), who can be identified either with Marcus Aurelius or his predecessor Antoninus Pius.[251]
Legal and administrative work, 161–80[link]
Like many emperors, Marcus spent most of his time addressing matters of law such as petitions and hearing disputes.[252] Marcus took great care in the theory and practice of legislation. Professional jurists called him "an emperor most skilled in the law"[253] and "a most prudent and conscientiously just emperor".[254] He shows marked interest in three areas of the law: the manumission of slaves, the guardianship of orphans and minors, and the choice of city councillors (decuriones).[255] In 168 he revalued the denarius, increasing the silver purity from 79% to 82% — the actual silver weight increasing from 2.57 grams to 2.67 grams. However, two years later Marcus reverted to the previous values because of the military crises facing the empire.[152]
Germania and the Danube[link]
- For details, see: Marcomannic Wars
During the early 160s, Fronto's son-in-law Victorinus was stationed as a legate in Germany. He was there with his wife and children (another child had stayed with Fronto and his wife in Rome).[258] The condition on the northern frontier looked grave. A frontier post had been destroyed, and it looked like all the peoples of central and northern Europe were in turmoil. There was corruption among the officers: Victorinus had to ask for the resignation of a legionary legate who was taking bribes.[259] Experienced governors had been replaced by friends and relatives of the imperial family. L. Dasumius Tullius Tuscus, a distant relative of Hadrian, was in Upper Pannonia, succeeding the experienced M. Nonius Macrinus. Lower Pannonia was under the obscure Ti. Haterius Saturnius. M. Servilius Fabianus Maximus was shuffled from Lower Moesia to Upper Moesia when Iallius Bassus had joined Lucius in Antioch. Lower Moesia was filled by Pontius Laelianus' son. The Dacias were still divided in three, governed by a praetorian senator and two procurators. The peace could not hold long; Lower Pannonia did not even have a legion.[260]
Starting in the 160s, Germanic tribes and other nomadic people launched raids along the northern border, particularly into Gaul and across the Danube. This new impetus westwards was probably due to attacks from tribes farther east. A first invasion of the Chatti in the province of Germania Superior was repulsed in 162. Far more dangerous was the invasion of 166, when the Marcomanni of Bohemia, clients of the Roman Empire since 19, crossed the Danube together with the Lombards and other German tribes. At the same time, the Iranian Sarmatians attacked between the Danube and the Theiss rivers.
Due to the situation in the East, only a punitive expedition could be launched in 167. Both Marcus and Verus led the troops. After the death of Verus (169), Marcus led personally the struggle against the Germans for the great part of his remaining life. The Romans suffered at least two serious defeats by the Quadi and Marcomanni, who could cross the Alps, ravage Opitergium (Oderzo) and besiege Aquileia, the main Roman city of north-east Italy. At the same time the Costoboci, coming from the Carpathian area, invaded Moesia, Macedonia and Greece. After a long struggle, Marcus Aurelius managed to push back the invaders. Numerous Germans settled in frontier regions like Dacia, Pannonia, Germany and Italy itself. This was not a new thing, but this time the numbers of settlers required the creation of two new frontier provinces on the left shore of the Danube, Sarmatia and Marcomannia, including today's Czech Republic and Hungary.
The emperor's plans were, however, prevented by a revolt in East, led by Avidius Cassius, which was prompted by false news of the death of Marcus after an illness. Of the eastern provinces, only Cappadocia and Bithynia did not side with the rebels. When it became clear that Marcus Aurelius was still alive, Cassius' fortunes declined quickly and he was killed by his troops after only 100 days of power.
Together with his wife Faustina, Marcus Aurelius toured the eastern provinces until 173. He visited Athens, declaring himself a protector of philosophy. After a triumph in Rome, the following year he marched again to the Danubian frontier. After a decisive victory in 178, the plan to annex Bohemia seemed poised for success but was abandoned after Marcus Aurelius again fell ill in 180.
Death and succession[link]
Marcus Aurelius died on 17 March 180, in the city of Vindobona (modern Vienna). He was immediately deified and his ashes were returned to Rome, and rested in Hadrian's mausoleum (modern Castel Sant'Angelo) until the Visigoth sack of the city in 410. His campaigns against Germans and Sarmatians were also commemorated by a column and a temple built in Rome.
Marcus gave the succession to his son Commodus, whom he had named Caesar in 166 and made co-emperor in 177. This decision, putting an end to the series of "adoptive emperors", was highly criticized by later historians since Commodus was a political and military outsider, as well as an extreme egotist with neurotic problems.
At the end of his history of Marcus' reign, Cassius Dio wrote an encomium to the emperor, and described the transition to Commodus, to Dio's own times, with sorrow.
<poem>...[Marcus] did not meet with the good fortune that he deserved, for he was not strong in body and was involved in a multitude of troubles throughout practically his entire reign. But for my part, I admire him all the more for this very reason, that amid unusual and extraordinary difficulties he both survived himself and preserved the empire. Just one thing prevented him from being completely happy, namely, that after rearing and educating his son in the best possible way he was vastly disappointed in him. This matter must be our next topic; for our history now descends from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust, as affairs did for the Romans of that day.</poem>– Cassius Dio 71.36.3–4[261]
Michael Grant, in The Climax of Rome (1968), writes of Commodus: "The youth turned out to be very erratic or at least so anti-traditional that disaster was inevitable. But whether or not Marcus ought to have known this to be so, the rejections of his son's claims in favour of someone else would almost certainly involved one of the civil wars which were to proliferate so disastrous around future successions."
Legacy and reputation[link]
Marcus Aurelius acquired the reputation of a philosopher king within his lifetime, and the title would remain his after death; both Dio and the biographer call him "the philosopher".[262] Christians—Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Melito—gave him the title too.[263] The last named went so far as to call Marcus "more philanthropic and philosophic" than Pius and Hadrian, and set him against the persecuting emperors Domitian and Nero to make the contrast bolder.[264] "Alone of the emperors," wrote the historian Herodian, "he gave proof of his learning not by mere words or knowledge of philosophical doctrines but by his blameless character and temperate way of life."[265]
The 1964 movie The Fall of the Roman Empire and the 2000 movie Gladiator featured characters based on him. Both plots posited that Marcus Aurelius was assassinated because he intended to pass down power to Aurelius's adopted son, a Roman general, instead of his biological son Commodus.
Marriage and issue[link]
Aurelius married his first cousin Faustina the Younger in 145. During their 30-year marriage Faustina bore 13 children. Only one son and four daughters outlived their father:[266]
- Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina (147–after 165)[267]
- Gemellus Lucillae (died around 150), twin brother of Lucilla[268][269]
- Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla (148/50–182), twin sister of Gemellus, married her father's co-ruler Lucius Verus[270]
- Titus Aelius Antoninus (born after 150, died before 7 March 161)[271]
- Titus Aelius Aurelius (born after 150, died before 7 March 161)[272]
- Hadrianus (152–157)[273]
- Domitia Faustina (born after 150, died before 7 March 161)[274]
- Annia Aurelia Fadilla (159–after 211)[275]
- Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor (160–after 211)[276]
- Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus (161–165), twin brother of Commodus[277]
- Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus (Commodus) (161–192), twin brother of Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, later emperor[278][279]
- Marcus Annius Verus Caesar (162–169)[280]
- Vibia Aurelia Sabina (170–died before 217)[281]
Writings[link]
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
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Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
While on campaign between 170 and 180, Aurelius wrote his Meditations in Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. The title of this work was added posthumously—originally he entitled his work simply: "To Myself". He had been a priest at the sacrificial altars of Roman service and was an eager patriot. He had a logical mind and his notes were representative of Stoic philosophy and spirituality. Meditations is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty. The book has been a favourite of Frederick the Great, John Stuart Mill, Matthew Arnold, Goethe, Wen Jiabao, and Bill Clinton.[282]
It is not known how far Marcus' writings were circulated after his death. There are stray references in the ancient literature to the popularity of his precepts, and Julian the Apostate was well aware of Marcus' reputation as a philosopher, though he does not specifically mention the Meditations.[283] The book itself, though mentioned in correspondence by Arethas of Caesarea in the 10th century and in the Byzantine Suda, was first published in 1558 in Zurich by Wilhelm Holzmann, from a manuscript copy that is now lost.[284] The only other surviving complete copy of the manuscript is in the Vatican library.
[edit] Nerva–Antonine family tree
- (1) = 1st spouse
- (2) = 2nd spouse (not shown)
- (3) = 3rd spouse
- SMALL CAPS = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)
- dotted lines indicate adoption or (in the case of Hadrian and Antinous) alleged lovers
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Marcia |
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TRAJANUS PATER |
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NERVA (r. 96–98) |
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Ulpia |
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G. Salonius Matidius Patruinus |
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MARCIANA |
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TRAJAN, adoptive son (r. 98–117) |
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PLOTINA |
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Libo Rupilius Frugi (3) |
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MATIDIA |
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L. Vibius Sabinus (1) |
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M. Annius Verus |
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Rupilia Faustina |
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SABINA |
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HADRIAN, adoptive son (r. 117–138) |
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M. Annius Verus |
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M. Annius Libo |
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FAUSTINA |
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ANTONINUS PIUS, adoptive son (r. 138–161) |
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Aelius, adoptive son |
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MARCUS AURELIUS, adoptive son (r. 161–180) |
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FAUSTINA Minor |
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Aurelia Fadilla |
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two infant sons |
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COMMODUS (r. 177–192) |
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nine other children |
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Lucilla |
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Notes[link]
- ^ He was originally named Marcus Annius Catilius Severus (or perhaps Marcus Catilius Severus).[2] When he married he took the name Marcus Annius Verus,[3] and when he was named emperor, he was given the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
- ^ Cassius Dio asserts that the Annii were near-kin of Hadrian, and that it was to these familial ties that they owed their rise to power.[12] The precise nature of these kinship ties is nowhere stated. One conjectural bond runs through Annius Verus (II). Verus' wife Rupilia Faustina was the daughter of the consular senator Libo Rupilius Frugi and an unnamed mother. It has been hypothesized Rupilia Faustina's mother was Matidia, who was also the mother (presumably through another marriage) of Vibia Sabina, Hadrian's wife.[13]
- ^ Farquharson dates his death to 130, when Marcus was nine.[20]
- ^ Birley amends the text of the HA Marcus from "Eutychius" to "Tuticius".[35]
- ^ Others put a harsher light on Hadrian's nickname. McLynn calls it an example of Hadrian's waspish (McLynn says "vespine") wit and adduces it in support of his contention that Marcus was a "prig".[43]
- ^ Birley, following the textual and epigraphic citations, concludes that he might only have seen Rome in 127, briefly in 128, and in 131.[45]
- ^ Commodus was a known consumptive at the time of his adoption, so Hadrian may have intended Marcus' eventual succession anyways.[54]
- ^ The manuscript is corrupt here.[75]
- ^ Moderns have not offered as positive an assessment. His second modern editor, Niebhur, thought him stupid and frivolous; his third editor, Naber, found him contemptible.[92] Historians have seen him as a "pedant and a bore", his letters offering neither the running political analysis of a Cicero or the conscientious reportage of a Pliny.[93] Recent prosopographic research has rehabilitated his reputation, though not by much.[94]
- ^ Champlin notes that Marcus' praise of him in the Meditations is out of order (he is praised immediately after Diognetus, who had introduced Marcus to philosophy), giving him special emphasis.[114]
- ^ Although part of the biographer's account of Lucius is fictionalized (probably to mimic Nero, whose birthday Lucius shared[131]), and another part poorly compiled from a better biographical source,[132] scholars have accepted these biographical details as accurate.[133]
- ^ These name-swaps have proven so confusing that even the Historia Augusta, our main source for the period, cannot keep them straight.[145] The 4th-century ecclesiastical historian Eusebius of Caesarea shows even more confusion.[146] The mistaken belief that Lucius had the name "Verus" before becoming emperor has proven especially popular.[147]
- ^ There was, however, much precedent. The consulate was a twin magistracy, and earlier emperors had often had a subordinate lieutenant with many imperial offices (under Pius, the lieutenant had been Marcus). Many emperors had planned a joint succession in the past—Augustus planned to leave Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar as joint emperors on his death; Tiberius wished to have Gaius Caligula and Tiberius Gemellus do so as well; Claudius left the empire to Nero and Britannicus, imagining that they would accept equal rank—but all of these arrangements had ended in failure, either through premature death (Gaius and Lucius Caesar) or judicial murder (Gemellus by Caligula and Britannicus by Nero).[147]
- ^ The biographer relates the scurrilous (and, in the judgment of Anthony Birley, untrue) rumor that Commodus was an illegitimate child born of a union between Faustina and a gladiator.[159]
- ^ Because both Verus and Marcus are said to have taken active part in the recovery (HA Marcus 8.4–5), the flood must have happened before Verus' departure for the east in 162; because it appears in the biographer's narrative after Pius' funeral has finished and the emperors have settled into their offices, it must not have occurred in the spring of 161. A date in autumn 161 or spring 162 is probable, and, given the normal seasonal distribution of Tiber flooding, the most probable date is in spring 162.[175] (Birley dates the flood to autumn 161.[170])
- ^ Since 15 CE, the river had been administered by a Tiber Conservancy Board, with a consular senator at its head and a permanent staff. In 161, the curator alevi Tiberis et riparum et cloacarum urbis ("Curator of the Tiber Bed and Banks and the City Sewers") was A. Platorius Nepos, son or grandson of the builder of Hadrian's Wall, whose name he shares. He probably had not been particularly incompetent. A more likely candidate for that incompetence is Nepos' likely predecessor, M. Statius Priscus. A military man and consul for 159, Priscus probably looked on the office as little more than "paid leave".[177]
- ^ Alan Cameron adduces the 5th-century writer Sidonius Apollinaris's comment that Marcus commanded "countless legions" vivente Pio (while Pius was alive) while contesting Birley's contention that Marcus had no military experience. (Neither Apollinaris nor the Historia Augusta (Birley's source) are particularly reliable on 2nd-century history.[192])
- ^ Birley believes there is some truth in these considerations.[213]
- ^ The whole section of the vita dealing with Lucius' debaucheries (HA Verus 4.4–6.6), however, is an insertion into a narrative otherwise entirely cribbed from an earlier source. Most of the details are fabricated by the biographer himself, relying on nothing better than his own imagination.[219]
- ^ Champlin dates these letters to either summer 162 or early 165.[250]
Citations[link]
All citations to the Historia Augusta are to individual biographies, and are marked with a "HA". Citations to the works of Fronto are cross-referenced to C.R. Haines' Loeb edition.
- ^ In Classical Latin, Aurelius' name would be inscribed as MARCVS AVRELIVS ANTONINVS AVGVSTVS.
- ^ Dio 69.21.1; HA Marcus 1.9; McLynn, 24.
- ^ Dio 69.21.1; HA Marcus 1.10; McLynn, 24.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 229–30. The thesis of single authorship was first proposed in H. Dessau's "Über Zeit und Persönlichkeit der Scriptoes Historiae Augustae" (in German), Hermes 24 (1889), 337ff.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 230. On the HA Verus, see Barnes, 65–74.
- ^ Mary Beard, "Was He Quite Ordinary?", London Review of Books 31:14 (23 July 2009), accessed 15 September 2009; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 226.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 227.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 228–29, 253.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 227–28.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 228.
- ^ HA Marcus 1.2, 1.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 28; McLynn, 14.
- ^ Dio 69.21.2, 71.35.2–3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31.
- ^ Codex Inscriptionum Latinarum 14.3579; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 29; McLynn, 14, 575 n. 53, citing Ronald Syme, Roman Papers 1.244.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 29; McLynn, 14.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 29, citing Pliny, Epistulae 8.18.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 30.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 49.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31, 44.
- ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31.
- ^ Farquharson, 1.95–96.
- ^ Meditations 1.1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31.
- ^ HA Marcus 2.1 and Meditations 5.4, qtd. in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 32.
- ^ Meditations 1.3, qtd. in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 35.
- ^ Meditations 1.17.7, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 35.
- ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 33.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 2.8.2 (= Haines 1.142), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31–32.
- ^ Meditations 1.1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 35.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 35.
- ^ Meditations 1.17.2; Farquharson, 1.102; McLynn, 23; cf. Meditations 1.17.11; Farquharson, 1.103.
- ^ McLynn, 20–21.
- ^ Meditations 1.4; McLynn, 20.
- ^ HA Marcus 2.2, 4.9; Meditations 1.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 37; McLynn, 21–22.
- ^ HA Marcus 2.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 38; McLynn, 21.
- ^ Birley, Later Caesars, 109, 109 n.8; Marcus Aurelius, 40, 270 n.27, citing Bonner Historia-Augusta Colloquia 1966/7, 39ff.
- ^ HA Marcus 2.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 40, 270 n.27.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 40, citing Aelius Aristides, Oratio 32 K; McLynn, 21.
- ^ Meditations 1.10; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 40; McLynn, 22.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 40, 270 n.28, citing A.S.L. Farquharson, The Meditations of Marcus Antoninus (Oxford, 1944) 2.453.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 42.
- ^ HA Marcus 4.1, 4.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 36.
- ^ HA Marcus 1.10, 2.1; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 38; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 147. The appellation also survives on inscriptions: Birley cites (at Marcus Aurelius, p. 270 n.24) Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 A 697, and L'Année épigraphique 1940.62. On the Salii, see: Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 36–37; McLynn, 18–19.
- ^ McLynn, 18, citing Michael Grant, The Antonines (1994), 26 for the characterization of verissimus as an example of Hadrian's waspish wit.
- ^ HA Marcus 4.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 37; McLynn, 19.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 38, 270 n.24.
- ^ HA Marcus 4.5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 39–40; McLynn, 24–25; R. Syme, "The Ummidii", Historia 17:1 (1968): 93–94.
- ^ HA Marcus 4.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 41.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 41.
- ^ HA Marcus 4.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 41.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 41–42.
- ^ HA Hadrian 23.10, qtd. in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 42.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 42. On the succession to Hadrian, see also: T.D. Barnes, "Hadrian and Lucius Verus", Journal of Roman Studies 57:1–2 (1967): 65–79; J. VanderLeest, "Hadrian, Lucius Verus, and the Arco di Portogallo", Phoenix 49:4 (1995): 319–30.
- ^ HA Hadrian 23.15–16; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 45; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 148.
- ^ Dio 69.17.1; HA Aelius 3.7, 4.6, 6.1–7; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 147.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 46. Date: Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 148.
- ^ Dio 69.21.1; HA Hadrian 24.1; HA Aelius 6.9; HA Pius 4.6–7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 48–49.
- ^ HA Marcus 5.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 49.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 49–50.
- ^ HA Marcus 5.6–8, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 50.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 80–81.
- ^ Dio 69.22.4; HA Hadrian 25.5–6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 50–51. Hadrian's suicide attempts: Dio 69.22.1–4; HA Hadrian 24.8–13.
- ^ HA Hadrian 25.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 53.
- ^ HA Pius 5.3, 6.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 55–56; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 151.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 55; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 151.
- ^ HA Marcus 6.2; Verus 2.3–4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 53–54.
- ^ Dio 71.35.5; HA Marcus 6.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 56.
- ^ Meditations 6.30, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57; cf. Marcus Aurelius, 270 n.9, with notes on the translation.
- ^ a b HA Marcus 6.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57, 272 n.10, citing Codex Inscriptionum Latinarum 6.32, 6.379, cf. Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 360.
- ^ Meditations 5.16, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57.
- ^ Meditations 8.9, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57–58.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.7, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 90.
- ^ HA Marcus 6.5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 58.
- ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 89.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 5.1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 89.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.8, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 89.
- ^ Dio 71.36.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 89.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 90–91.
- ^ HA Pius 10.2, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 91.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Unko Aurelius, 91.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 61.
- ^ HA Marcus 2.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 62.
- ^ Alan Cameron, review of Anthony Birley's Marcus Aurelius, Classical Review 17:3 (1967): 347.
- ^ HA Marcus 3.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 62.
- ^ Vita Sophistae 2.1.14; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 63–64.
- ^ Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 9.2.1–7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 64–65.
- ^ Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 19.12, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 65.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 65.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 67–68, citing E. Champlin, Fronto and Antonine Rome (1980), esp. chs. 3 and 4.
- ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 65–67.
- ^ Champlin, Fronto, 1–2.
- ^ Ronald Mellor, review of Edward Champlin's Fronto and Antonine Rome, The American Journal of Philology 103:4 (1982): 460.
- ^ Cf., eg.: Ronald Mellor, review of Edward Champlin's Fronto and Antonine Rome, The American Journal of Philology 103:4 (1982): 461 and passim.
- ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 69.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.6 (= Haines 1.80ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 76.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.6 (= Haines 1.80ff); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 76–77.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 3.10–11 (= Haines 1.50ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 73.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 73.
- ^ Champlin, "Chronology of Fronto", 138.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 5.74 ( =Haines 2.52ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 73.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 77. On the date, see Champlin, "Chronology of Fronto", 142, who (with Bowersock, Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire (1964), 93ff) argues for a date in the 150s; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 78–79, 273 n.17 (with Ameling, Herodes Atticus (1983), 1.61ff, 2.30ff) argues for 140.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 3.2 (= Haines 1.58ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 77–78.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 3.3 (= Haines 1.62ff); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 78.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 3.3 (= Haines 1.62ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 79.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 80.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.13 (= Haines 1.214ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 93.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.3.1 (= Haines 1.2ff); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 94.
- ^ HA Marcus 3.5–8, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 94.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.3, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 69.
- ^ De Eloquentia 4.5 (= Haines 2.74), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 95. Alan Cameron, in his review of Birley's biography (The Classical Review 17:3 (1967): 347), suggests a reference to chapter 11 of Arthur Darby Nock's Conversion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933, rept. 1961): "Conversion to Philosophy".
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 94, 105.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 95; Champlin, Fronto, 120.
- ^ Champlin, Fronto, 174 n. 12.
- ^ Ad Antoninum Imperator 1.2.2 (= Haines 2.36), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 95.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 94–95, 101.
- ^ Champlin, Fronto, 120.
- ^ Meditations 1.7, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 94–95.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 103.
- ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.11 (= Haines 1.202ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 105.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 247 F.1.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 206–7.
- ^ Meditations 9.40, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 207.
- ^ Meditations 10.34, tr. Farquharson, 78, 224.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 107.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 107–8.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 108.
- ^ Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas pertinentes 4.1399, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 114.
- ^ a b Birley, 114.
- ^ HA Verus 2.9–11; 3.4–7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 108.
- ^ Suetonius, Nero 6.1; HA Verus 1.8; Barnes, 67; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 158. See also: Barnes, 69–70; Pierre Lambrechts, "L'empereur Lucius Verus. Essai de réhabilitation" (in French), Antiquité Classique 3 (1934), 173ff.
- ^ Barnes, 66. Poorly compiled: eg. Barnes, 68.
- ^ Barnes, 68–69.
- ^ HA Verus 2.9–11; 3.4–7; Barnes, 68; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 108.
- ^ Barnes, 68, citing J. Vogt, Die Alexandrinischen Miinzen (1924), I, III; 2, 62ff.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 112.
- ^ Dio 71.33.4–5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 114.
- ^ HA Pius 12.4–8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 114.
- ^ HA Marcus 7.5, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 116.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 116. Birley takes the phrase horror imperii from HA Pert. 13.1 and 15.8.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 156.
- ^ HA Verus 3.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 116; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 156.
- ^ HA Verus 4.1; Marcus 7.5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 116.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 116–17.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 117; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 157 n.53.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 157 n.53.
- ^ a b c d Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 117.
- ^ HA Verus 4.2, tr. David Magie, cited in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 117, 278 n.4.
- ^ HA Marcus 7.9; Verus 4.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 117–18.
- ^ HA Marcus 7.9; Verus 4.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 117–18. "twice the size": Richard Duncan-Jones, Structure and Scale in the Roman Economy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 109.
- ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 118.
- ^ a b Tulane University "Roman Currency of the Principate"
- ^ HA Marcus 7.10, tr. David Magie, cited in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 118, 278 n.6.
- ^ HA Marcus 7.10–11; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 118.
- ^ HA Pius 12.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 118–19.
- ^ HA Marcus 7.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 119.
- ^ HA Comm. 1.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 119.
- ^ HA Comm. 1.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 119.
- ^ HA Marcus 19.1–2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 278 n.9.
- ^ HA Comm. 1.4, 10.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 119.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 119, citing H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 155ff.; 949ff.
- ^ HA Marcus 7.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 118.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 118, citing Werner Eck, Die Organisation Italiens (1979), 146ff.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 119; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 157.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 122–23, citing H.G. Pfalum, Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain I–III (Paris, 1960–61); Supplément (Paris, 1982), nos. 142; 156; Eric Birley, Roman Britain and the Roman Army (1953), 142ff., 151ff.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123, citing H.G. Pfalum, Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain I–III (Paris, 1960–61); Supplément (Paris, 1982), no. 141.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123, citing W. Eck, Die Satthalter der germ. Provinzen (1985), 65ff.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 120, citing Ad Verum Imperator 1.3.2 (= Haines 1.298ff).
- ^ Ad Antoninum Imperator 4.2.3 (= Haines 1.302ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 119.
- ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 120.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 120, citing Ad Verum Imperator 1.1 (= Haines 1.305).
- ^ Ad Antoninum Imperator 4.1 (= Haines 1.300ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 120.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.3–4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 120.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 120, citing H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 841; 845.
- ^ Gregory S. Aldrete, Floods of the Tiber in ancient Rome (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007), 30–31.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.4–5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 120.
- ^ Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 5932 (Nepos), 1092 (Priscus); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121.
- ^ HA Marcus 11.3, cited in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 278 n.16.
- ^ Ad Antoninum Imperator 1.2.2 (= Haines 2.35), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 128.
- ^ De eloquentia 1.12 (= Haines 2.63–65), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 128.
- ^ Ad Antoninum Imperator 1.2.2 (= Haines 2.35); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127–28.
- ^ Ad Antoninum Imperator 1.2.4 (= Haines 2.41–43), tr. Haines; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 128.
- ^ HA Pius 12.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 114, 121.
- ^ Event: HA Marcus 8.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121. Date: Jaap-Jan Flinterman, "The Date of Lucian's Visit to Abonuteichos," Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 119 (1997): 281.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121.
- ^ Lucian, Alexander 27; Birley , Marcus Aurelius, 121.
- ^ Lucian, Alexander 27; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121–22. On Alexander, see: Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 241–50.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 278 n.19.
- ^ Dio 71.2.1; Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 21, 24, 25; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121–22.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 122.
- ^ HA Pius 7.11; Marcus 7.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 103–4, 122.
- ^ Pan. Ath. 203–4, qtd. and tr. Alan Cameron, review of Anthony Birley's Marcus Aurelius, The Classical Review 17:3 (1967): 349.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 8.7050–51; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 1097–98; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 1091; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 2311; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ HA Marcus 12.13; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ L'Année Épigraphique 1972.657; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125.
- ^ HA Verus 9.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125.
- ^ De Feriis Alsiensibus 1 (= Haines 2.3); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126.
- ^ De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.1 (= Haines 2.5), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126.
- ^ De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.4 (= Haines 2.9); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126–27.
- ^ De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.6–12 (= Haines 2.11–19); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126–27.
- ^ De Feriis Alsiensibus 4, tr. Haines 2.19; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127.
- ^ De Feriis Alsiensibus 4 (= Haines 2.19), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127.
- ^ De bello Parthico 10 (= Haines 2.31), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127.
- ^ De bello Parthico 1–2 (= Haines 2.21–23).
- ^ De bello Parthico 1 (= Haines 2.21), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127.
- ^ Ad Verum Imperator 2.1.19 (= Haines 2.149); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ Dio 71.1.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
- ^ HA Verus 5.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123, 125.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125.
- ^ HA Marcus 8.9, tr. Magie; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123–26. On Lucius' voyage, see: HA Verus 6.7–9; HA Marcus 8.10–11; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125–26.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ HA Verus 4.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ HA Verus 4.6, tr. Magie; cf. 5.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ HA Verus 8.7, 8.10–11; Fronto, Principae Historia 17 (= Haines 2.217); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129.
- ^ Barnes, 69.
- ^ HA Verus 9.2; Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 3.199; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130–31.
- ^ HA Verus 7.7; Marcus 9.4; Barnes, 72; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163; cf. also Barnes, "Legislation Against the Christians", Journal of Roman Studies 58:1–2 (1968), 39; "Some Persons in the Historia Augusta", Phoenix 26:2 (1972), 142, citing the Vita Abercii 44ff.
- ^ HA Verus 7.10; Lucian, Imagines 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131. Cf. Lucian, Imagines, Pro Imaginibus, passim.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163.
- ^ HA Verus 7.7; Marcus 9.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131, citing Anné Épigraphique 1958.15.
- ^ HA Verus 7.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131.
- ^ HA Marcus 9.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131.
- ^ HA Marcus 9.5–6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131.
- ^ HA Marcus 9.1; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ HA Marcus 9.1; HA Verus 7.1–2; Ad Verrum Imperator 2.3 (= Haines 2.133); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 129; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162, citing H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 233ff.
- ^ Dio 71.3.1; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162; Millar, Near East, 113.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 280 n. 42; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162, citing H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 261ff.; 300 ff.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130, 279 n. 38; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 M 169; Millar, Near East, 112.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Fronto, Ad Verum Imperator 2.1.3 (= Haines 2.133); Astarita, 41; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 162.
- ^ Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 1098; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 M 169.
- ^ Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 15, 19; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163.
- ^ Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 20, 28; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163, citing Syme, Roman Papers, 5.689ff.
- ^ HA Verus 8.3–4; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 163. Birley cites R.H. McDowell, Coins from Seleucia on the Tigris (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1935), 124ff., on the date.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 164.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 164, citing H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 384 ff., 1248 ff., 1271 ff.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 164, citing P. Kneissl, Die Siegestitulatur der römischen Kaiser. Untersuchungen zu den Siegerbeinamen des 1. und 2. Jahrhunderts (Göttingen, 1969), 99 ff.
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 164, citing H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 401ff.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 130, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 A 1402f.; 1405; Astarita, passim; Syme, Bonner Historia-Augustia Colloquia 1984 (= Roman Papers IV (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), ?).
- ^ Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 164, citing Alföldy, Konsulat, 24, 221.
- ^ Ad Antoninum Imperator 2.1–2 (= Haines 2.94ff.); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 132.
- ^ Champlin, Fronto, 134.
- ^ Pulleyblank, Edwin G.; Leslie, D. D.; Gardiner, K. H. J. (1999). "The Roman Empire as Known to Han China". Journal of the American Oriental Society 119 (1): 71–79. DOI:10.2307/605541. JSTOR 605541.
- ^ Fergus Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World, 31 BC – AD 337 (London: Duckworth, 1977), 6 and passim. See also: idem. "Emperors at Work", Journal of Roman Studies 57:1/2 (1967): 9–19.
- ^ Codex Justinianus 7.2.6, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 133.
- ^ Digest 31.67.10, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 133.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 133.
- ^ Birley, 253
- ^ Birley, 183
- ^ Dio 72.11.3–4; Ad amicos 1.12 (= Haines 2.173); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 132.
- ^ Dio 72.11.3–4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 132, citing De nepote amisso 2 (= Haines 2.222); Ad Verum Imperator 2.9–10 (= Haines 2.232ff.).
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 133, citing Geza Alföldy, Konsulat und Senatorenstand (1977), Moesia Inferior: 232 f.; Moesia Superior: 234f.; Pannonia Superior: 236f.; Dacia: 245f.; Pannonia Inferior: 251.
- ^ Tr. Cary, ad loc.
- ^ HA Marcus 1.1, 27.7; Dio 71.1.1; James Francis, Subversive Virtue: Asceticism and Authority in the Second-Century Pagan World (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), 21 n. 1.
- ^ Francis, 21 n.1, citing Justin, 1 Apologia 1; Athenagoras, Leg. 1; Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 4.26.9–11.
- ^ Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 4.26.9–11, qtd. and tr. Francis, 21 n. 1.
- ^ Herodian, Ab Excessu Divi Marci 1.2.4, tr. Echols.
- ^ http://www.roman-emperors.org/marcaur.htm
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ http://www.roman-emperors.org/marcaur.htm
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ http://www.roman-emperors.org/marcaur.htm
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ http://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html
- ^ Gregory Hays. Introduction to Marcus Aurelius Meditations Weidenfeld and Nicholson London2003 pxlix
- ^ Stertz, 434, citing Themistius, Oratio 6.81; HA Cassius 3.5; Aurelius Victor, De Caesaribus 16.9.
- ^ Gregory Hays. Introduction to Marcus Aurelius Meditations Weidenfeld and Nicholson London 2003 pp xlviii–xlix.
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- Syme, Ronald. "The Ummidii." Historia 17:1 (1968): 72–105.
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Marcus Aurelius
Cadet branch of the Nervan–Antonine dynasty
Born: 26 April 121 Died: 17 March 180 |
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| Preceded by Antoninus Pius |
Roman Emperor 161–180 (with Lucius Verus 161–169) |
Succeeded by Commodus |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Antoninus Pius, Gaius Bruttius Praesens and Lucius Fulvius Rusticus |
Consul of the Roman Empire with Antoninus Pius 140 |
Succeeded by Titus Hoenius Severus and Marcus Peducaeus Stloga Priscinus |
| Preceded by Lollianus Avitus and Titus Statilius Maximus |
Consul of the Roman Empire with Antoninus Pius 145 |
Succeeded by Sextus Erucius Clarus and Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus |
| Preceded by Appius Annius Atilius Bradua and Titus Clodius Vibius Varus |
Consul of the Roman Empire with Lucius Verus 161 |
Succeeded by Quintus Iunius Rusticus and Lucius Titius Plautius Aquilinus |
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Learning resources from Wikiversity |
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| Persondata | |
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| Name | Marcus Aurelius |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 26 April 0121 |
| Place of birth | Rome |
| Date of death | 17 March 0180 |
| Place of death | Vindobona or Sirmium |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
