Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius (121–180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180, the last of the Five Good Emperors and a Stoic philosopher whose private notebook, the Meditations, remains among the great works of philosophy. Born in Rome and adopted by Antoninus Pius in 138, he refused to rule alone and made his adoptive brother Lucius Verus joint Augustus.

That year Parthia seized Armenia; Verus' war ended in 166, but the army carried the Antonine Plague home. The Marcomanni then broke across the Danube, and Marcus spent most of his remaining reign on that frontier. Between 170 and 180 he wrote the Meditations in Greek while on campaign.

He died on 17 March 180, aged 58, and was deified. Rome kept his bronze equestrian statue, the only imperial one to survive. His son Commodus, co-ruler since 177, succeeded him; Marcus was reportedly disappointed in the son he had carefully raised.