Most important thoughts of MARCO AURELIO

Throughout history there have been a number of political and philosophical thinkers of great relevance, which have been studied by later intellectuals to improve the vision of his politics. In Ancient Rome there were several thinkers who changed the political landscape, and to talk about one of them in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to talk about the Most important Marcus Aurelius thoughts.

Marcus Aurelius Antonino Augusto was one of the most important Roman emperors. He was born in Rome in 121 AD and he died in the city of Sirmius in 180. He was emperor of Rome for about 40 years, being the third Hispanic emperor and the last of the so-called 5 good emperors.

From a young age, Marcus Aurelius seemed destined to succeed, being seen by the Roman community as one of the most intelligent children of Roman families, drawing the attention of Hadrian and of Antonino Pio, the latter being the one who would finally welcome Marco Aurelio as if he were his own son. It was at this moment that Marcus Aurelio's life changed forever, since this moment

he became the successor to the greatest leader of Rome, and therefore the future emperor of Rome.

To train for his future position, Marco Aurelio studied rhetoric and philosophy, finding himself very close to the stoic thoughts. After his education he held various responsible positions in Rome, being consul twice and ceasing once.

After the death of Antonino Pío, Marcus Aurelius became the emperor of Rome, inheriting an Empire that had passed through one of its most splendid stages. Unfortunately, everything went wrong when Marcus Aurelius came to power, joining a series of wars against external peoples such as the Parthians, a series of revolts of the Roman people by the policies carried out by Marcus Aurelius and a series of epidemics that brought with it an enormous number of deaths in the cities Roman.

His government was marked by the large number of confrontations against the barbarian peoples, which led him to have to agree to peace with some of these peoples, and even accepting several barbarians as soldiers of the Empire. The peace did not last long and it was in the return to war against the barbarians that Marco Aurelio died, due to the plague that had persecuted the Roman people throughout his reign.

To continue with this lesson on the most important thoughts of Marcus Aurelius, we must talk about the philosophical and political ideas of the Roman emperor that we are aware of.

Marco Aurelio's thoughts meet recorded in a book written by himself, called Meditations. Throughout the military campaigns Marcus Aurelius was always seen writing and it is that in his leisure time the Roman emperor began to write his reflections on life. This text was divided into twelve books, and it was written in Greek, being a language that Marcus Aurelius adored.

The Marcus Aurelius books they achieve great importance because of how interesting it is to see the way an emperor saw life Roman, that is why to understand him better we are going to summarize his thoughts in a few points. The main characteristics of Marcus Aurelius's meditations are the following:

• He considers that men's passions they are the main reason that nothing works in our world. He considered that all cases of corruption, both in Rome and in the rest of the existing empires, were caused by evil intentions caused by the passions suffered by human beings,
• Criticize the power what can you have only one person, not ceasing to be strange with the similarities that he has with the role of emperor. His criticism is directed specifically at despotic governors, it is not clear if it is a reference to the Roman government or if on the contrary it is an attack on the leaders of the barbarian peoples with whom he faced throughout his life.
• His work is completely stoic, that is, Marco Aurelio wanted to achieve happiness through the loss of material goods. It must be said that although for years he was a student of the Stoics he was quite at odds with some of his main leaders, Seneca being a clear example.
• He considered that the soul was separated from the body, but within this soul there was another soul. It was a very similar thought to that of other Stoic intellectuals, although his idea was far beyond the rest.
• He considered his actions as emperor important, but he did not stop thinking that they did not serve to eliminate the great problems of human beings. Through his texts we can see how he did not want to be emperor of Rome.
• He did not believe in life after death, since it was something that could not be demonstrated. His confrontation with Christian thought made his beliefs about life even worse after his death.
• Marcus Aurelius believed that death could be a blessing, since it ended with all the evils of the human being. His thought of the decay of the human being united to goods was what led him to this thought.
• He didn't believe in Christianity although his persecutions were much less than that of other Roman emperors, since not even the Christians included him in the list of his enemies.