Marcus Aurelius: Philosophy Inside Imperial Power

100 Lives That Shaped the World · Episode 27

• Historical Biographies
• 41 min
• Ages 12–99
• 10 chapters

About this audiobook

A biography of Marcus Aurelius that places private Stoic exercises beside adoption politics, co-rule, plague, frontier war, slavery, law, and imperial violence.

Why it's worth a listen

It tests whether personal moral discipline meaningfully constrained the enormous unequal power of a Roman emperor.

A question to keep

What happens when a philosophy of self-command is practiced by a ruler who commands an empire?

Based on the book by Emma's Library, published by Emma's Library

Chapters

1. Notes to Himself at the Frontier
2. Chosen by Adoption
3. Learning Stoic Practice
4. Two Emperors
5. The Antonine Plague
6. Law, Petitions, and Hierarchy
7. War on the Danube
8. Christians Under a Philosopher
9. Commodus and the Failure of Succession
10. The Emperor Modern Readers Want