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Marcus Aurelius… who else?
This one was predictable. Let’s get him out of the way first, so that we can talk about the juicier figures down below.
The modern fascination with (popularised) Stoicism has made Marcus almost into a household name. The Daily Stoic, a YouTube channel with over a million subscribers, posts almost exclusively about Marcus Aurelius – although one would think that the slave Epictetus has much more of relevance to say to the modern, exploited employee than an emperor of Rome, the most powerful man of his time.
Marcus Aurelius was Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, and is generally seen as the model of the (western tradition) philosophy-king. He was, untypically for a Roman emperor, a thoughtful, humble man, who kept a diary of his thoughts and views called “Notes to Myself,” rather than, as others would attempt similar works much later, “My Fight,” “Quotations From Chairman Mao,” “Mastering Bolshevism,” or “I Am the Winner.” The last one is not a joke. It seems to be the actual title of Trump’s autobiography. If this man ever picks up a Marcus Aurelius edition, I suspect that they might both instantly annihilate and disappear in a puff of pure energy.
We talked in an older article about Marcus Aurelius in more detail, and, of course, there’s our recent video about him:
Marcus was a practitioner of Stoicism, a philosophy that emphasizes the importance of reason, virtue, and self-control. In his famous book, which is often (wrongly) titled “Meditations,” Marcus Aurelius reflects on society, the workings of the world, and on how to live a virtuous life while being a part of this world.
As emperor, Marcus Aurelius faced many challenges, including wars on multiple fronts and political unrest within the empire. Still, all his life he tried to follow Stoic principles and to rule justly and with compassion for his subjects. He died while fighting the barbarians (one of whose descendants is writing these words now) in a forest near what today is Vienna.
His diary was with him in his military expedition tent.
Ashoka – The Buddhist Emperor
Emperor Ashoka.
Ha — got you with this one. Bet most of you hadn’t heard of him previously (I hadn’t).
Ashoka was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire from 268 to 232 BC. Although today one often hears that it was the British rule that unified India, Ashoka’s empire already stretched Afghanistan in the west to what today we call Bangladesh in the east and south almost to the tip of the Indian subcontinent. Much of him is known only from writings that date from long after his death, so …
Read the full article which is published on Daily Philosophy (external link)
