Finally An Honest Video On Marcus Aurelius

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Marcus Aurelius — the man, the myth, the stoic. It's funny that the one emperor that couldn't have cared lass about fame and being remembered, is the one emperor that most people still know about today. In fact, a lot of people don't necessarily associate Marcus Aurelius with Rome or with being the emperor — they know him as a philosopher, and some see him as the ultimate symbol of stoicism, all thanks to his book Meditations... a book he never intended to publish, and is merely his personal diary. So... is there more to Marcus Aurelius? Was he really that stoic? How can one rule over an empire that oppresses foreign nations while claiming to be a stoic man of all people? How can one be so wise and yet appoint his famously viciously son as the heir to the throne, as the doom of Rome? Well... time for another episode:

Episode 5 of Rome's Greatest Emperors: Marcus Aurelius — The Philosophy King

Notes:
If you read my notes you might remember that when it came to emperors like Augustus, Nero, and Caligula, a lot of what I told you about were assumptions, simply due to the fact that... assumptions and gossip was all we had to go on. With Marcus Aurelius this changes since... a lot of what we know about him was documented by the man himself. His diary, Meditations (Notes to One's Self) is contemporary bestseller and firmly established Markus Aurelius as the ultimate stoic — a man that never did any wrong, and only lived in service of the people and a good world. Well... the truth is... Marcus Aurelius wasn't quite the angel stoics paint him as, but I think the video shows that clearly and I actually don't really have any additional notes to add this time around. There are not many question marks when it comes to the story of Marcus Aurelius, it's pretty comprehensively documented and who he was and what he did is unanimously agreed upon.

The only thing I'd like to expand on was him appointing Commodus as his successor:
While me, and many others, are baffled by how this great man could make such a terrible decision, the truth is...: He might not have had a choice, simply because... he had a perfectly legitimate heir as a son, something the previous four good emperors didn't have. So, while they were able to appoint the perfect philosophical successor, Aurelius probably would have had to kill Commodus if he wanted to ensure his son doesn't inherit the throne. Just... food for thought.

Oh, and I call them 'The Five Great Emperors' in my video — usually they're called The Five Good Emperors. I just got mixed up because I call this series 'Rome's Greatest Emperors'.

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Footage:
As always, some Game of Thrones clips in there, specifically Cersei and Ned Stark. The footage in the beginning is from Ridley Scott's Gladiator and then HBO's Rome.

Asher Fulero - Nocturne
Asher Fulero - Surrender
Bach - C Major Prelude
Cooper Cannell - Bach Cello Suite No. 1, G Major, Prelude
Esther Abrami - No.4 Piano Journey
Wahneta Meixsell - Gymnopedie No. 3
Despair and Triumph by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...