War, Plague, Opium and Stoicism: The Life of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius – This is the story of one of the most iconic characters in human history, the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. This video will detail the major episodes in Aurelius’ life, from being adopted twice when he was a boy to going on to become the ruler of the Roman Empire. When he ruled Rome, Aurelius was faced with numerous challenges, from the brutal Macromannic wars to the pernicious Antonine plague.

On a personal front, Aurelius struggled for years with an opium addiction, with there being at least one attempt where Aurelius tried but failed to stop using opium. Today, Aurelius is perhaps best known as one of the main intellectual figures of stoicism, a philosophical branch that emphasises virtue, rationality, control over one’s emotions and living in accordance with nature.

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Sources Consulted:

Africa, T. (1961) ‘The Opium Addiction of Marcus Aurelius,’ Journal of the History of Ideas, 22:1, 97-102.
Aurelius, M., Hammond, M., and Clay, D. (2006) Meditations (London: Penguin Books).
Beard, M. (2015) SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (London: Profile Books).
Gilliam, J. (1961) ‘The Plague under Marcus Aurelius,’ The American Journal of Philology, 82:3, 225-251.
Potter, D. (2013) The Emperors of Rome: The Story of Imperial Rome from Julius Caesar to the Last Emperor (London: Quercus Editions Ltd).
Sellars, J. (2002) Marcus Aurelius (121—180 C.E.), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - https://www.iep.utm.edu/marcus/.
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2017) ‘Marcus Aurelius’ - https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ma....

Note: The sources consulted for this video do not necessarily endorse the narrative constructed.

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