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IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
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Καμάρα Αφροδίτη
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη , "Marcus Aurelius", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7816>
Περίληψη :
Marcus Aurelius (121-180) succeeded Antoninus Pius at the throne of Rome in 161. He ruled together with Lucius Verus until 169
and then remained as sole emperor until 180. He was not so much a man of action as an intellectual. Philosophically he was a
follower of the Stoic movement, to which he had been initiated by his teacher, Epictetus.
Τόπος και Χρόνος Γέννησης
April 26th ,121, Rome
Τόπος και Χρόνος Θανάτου
March 17th, 180, Pannonia
Κύρια Ιδιότητα
Emperor
1. Birth and early years
Marcus Aurelius was born in Rome on April 26th, 121 A.D. The basic sources for his biography are the “Historia Augusta”, his
philosophical-autobiographical work “Meditations” as well as his correspondence with his teacher and friend Fronto.1 However, a
large number of literary testimonies are scattered in texts by his contemporaries, as his work, both on the political and on the
intellectual level was very important. His parents were Annius Verus and Domitia Lucilla. His initial name was Marcus Annius Verus.
It is possible that he also bore the name of his maternal great grandfather, Catilius Severus, as his mother's family was more prominent
than that of his father. The latter died at a young age and Marcus was adopted by his grandfather, Annius, who was consul in 126127, under Hadrian's reign (117-138). The emperor was particularly fond of young Marcus and he favoured him at a great extent by
incorporating him in the order of the priests of the Salii. In 138 Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius, uncle of Marcus Aurelius on his
maternal side, and forced him to adopt Marcus Aurelius together with Lucius Verus, son of another deceased officer of his, thus
procuring a series of successors. In 136, again under Hadrian's instigation, Marcus got engaged with Ceionia Fabia, but this
engagement was dismantled after the emperor's death. Marcus Aurelius married in 145 Annia Galeria Faustina, daughter of Antoninus
Pius, thus securing primacy at the succession. In 147 Faustina gave him a daughter, Lucilla, and in 161 two sons, from which one,
namely Commodus, succeeded him.
2. Education
Apart from his political duties, which he fulfilled rather successfully, Marcus Aurelius was naturally inclined towards philosophy and
the arts, and he cultivated his inclination with excellent teachers, thus following the model of philosopher-emperor, which had been
adopted by his predecessors and was going to be the main feature of the Antonines. The philosophical interests had already been
embedded in young Marcus since he was twelve, when he decided to adopt the outer appearance of the philosopher and not that of
the soldier. Apart from his basic education in grammar, philosophy and painting, Marcus continued to study and to exercise after he
became twenty, with teachers such as Cornelius Fronto2 and Herod Atticus in rhetoric, Junius Rusticus and Epictetus in philosophy.
3. Action
Marcus Aurelius followed a typical career of a Roman magistrate, as was expected from him in order to fulfill the role that his origin
and social environment had predefined. In 139 he undertook the magistracy of the treasurer and the religious office of princeps
iuventutis and the following year he became consul. In 145 he became consul for the second time. With the birth of his first child in
147 he got the tribunicia potestas and he probably became also imperial proconsul. In 161 Antoninus Pius died and Marcus
Aurelius succeeded him, and took the epithet “Antoninus” and the title “Augustus”. Lucius Verus became his co-emperor, but he was
not vested with all the imperial powers; the most important of the powers he lacked was that of the pontifex maximus of the imperial
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Καμάρα Αφροδίτη
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Καμάρα Αφροδίτη , "Marcus Aurelius", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7816>
cult. Marcus Aurelius engaged his daughter Lucilla with Lucius Verus, in order to secure his succession. However, the birth of his
sons in 161 overturned these dynastic plans.
Right after his succession to the throne, Marcus Aurelius had to face external enemies. Thus, expeditions started in the east and north.
In 161 the Parthian danger revived in the east, as the Parthians, led by Osroes, general of Vologases III entered Cappadocia and
Armenia. Marcus Sentatius Severianus, governor of Cappadocia, opposed them, but was defeated. The Parthians advanced towards
Armenia and appointed Pacorus as its king. A military expedition was organised immediately, headed by Lucius Verus, whereas
Marcus Aurelius remained general but from afar. This Parthian or Armenian campaign was long-lasting and difficult and was
accomplished in various stages. The Roman troops met their enemies on an extensive front comprising Syria, Cappadocia and
Armenia. Lucius Verus settled in Antioch and from there he followed rather than led the struggles of his generals, a fact for which he
was accused by his opponents.
The first stage of the Parthian campaign ended with victory for the Roman side due to the experienced generals of the senatorial order
Statius Priscus and Pontius Laelianus. The parallel fighting against the German danger on the Danube, however, made the Romans to
lose ground, which they regained in 165. The second stage of the campaign in the East was devastating for the Parthians: the Roman
troops, led by gifted generals, Avidius Cassius in particular, recaptured Osroene and Dura Europos and marched southwards,
towards the river Tiger, where they conquered the cities of Seleuceia and Ctesiphon. The Parthians were annihilated and in Rome a
triumphal procession was organized, that the city had seen no similar of for at least 50 years. The emperors assumed the titles
“Armeniacus” and “Parthicus”. Despite their victorious outcome, however, these wars had also negative impact on Asia Minor and
the empire in general. On their way to Mesopotamia, the troops were apparently infected with contagious diseases, which they
transmitted to the local population, particularly of Asia Minor. The plague was followed by famine, due to the bad harvest, the military
destructions and the increased demand for foodstuff for the needs of the army. Thus, several cities reached a point of extreme
poverty, whereas throughout the empire appeared inflational tendencies.3 In these cases, Marcus Aurelius behaved with prudence,
admonishing the supreme political bodies of the cities not to panic and to avoid extreme reactions and speculation.4 In the period of
his reign several Asia Minor cities built temples and buildings in honour of Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius, a fact which today is
attributed not only to the establishment of a ceremonial order but also to the gratitude for the protective measures which the emperors
took at the crucial moment.5 A second side-effect of the wars were the barbarian invasions, which occurred particularly in the eastern
part of the empire, due to the fact that the defense had weakened. These invasions were met with new enforced financial support on
behalf of the cities, such as the Bastarnian tax, which the inhabitants of Thyateira had to pay for the fight against the Bastarni, a
Caucasian tribe which had attacked Asia Minor.6
After his return from the East, Lucius Verus accompanied Marcus Aurelius on the Danubian front, where he died in 169. The enemies
from the north, however, continued to harass the Roman troops, whereas the barbarian invasions went on. In several cases, Asia
Minor cities had to contribute financially or military in order to control these enemies.7
The Danube front was finally under control in 175. In the same year, however, another turbulation shook for a while the eastern
provinces, Syria and Asia Minor in particular. Avidius Cassius, the victorious general of the Parthian Wars, rebelled and was
proclaimed emperor, as soon as he was misinformed on the emperor's death. Based in his hometown, Antioch, he remained in power
for about three months, until he was murdered by men of his escort. Marcus Aurelius, meanwhile, headed towards Alexandria
together with his family. He showed that the rebel's death made him sad and decided that from then on the governors of the provinces
would not originate from the area to which they were appointed. After this incident the imperial family headed towards Asia Minor.
However, Faustina got ill and died at the city of Halala in Cappadocia in 176 and in her honour the city was renamed Faustinopolis.
Marcus Aurelius was cordially welcomed in all Asia Minor cities from which he passed, particularly Ephesus (where a monument was
built in honour of him and his family) and Smyrna, where the orator Aristides addressed him with a speech. When shortly after the city
was hit by an earthquake, the emperor accorded it a ten-years' tax immunity, to help her economy recover. He also accorded similar
immunities to Ephesus, Cyzicus and Nicomedia. In 178 the German danger in the north was revived and Marcus Aurelius together
with Commodus left for the front. Marcus never came back. He died in Pannonia on March 17th, 180.
4. Marcus Aurelius and the Christians
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Για παραπομπή :
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη , "Marcus Aurelius", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7816>
The reign of Marcus Aurelius coincides with the period when Christianity made its first intense movements in the empire. It is the era
of the apologetics (Quadratus, Justin) and martyrs (Carpus, Papylus, Agathonice and Justin). It is also the period when the Christian
faith suffers the first serious turbulences due to heresies such as Montanism, and faces both the enmity of the local communities, and
the sarcastic attacks of Lucian of Samosata. These frictions, however, did not cause much trouble to the emperor. He was much
more absorbed by the effort to legally define the position and the “misdemeanour” of the Christians. Marcus Aurelius followed
Hadrian's legislation, who retracted Trajan's decree according to which even the name “Christian” was a punishable fault, and
restricted the conviction of Christians only in cases where the latter refused to conform actively to the traditional cults or were
arrested while performing illegal or incestuous deeds of a sexual or magical character, for which they were often accused by their
enemies. It seems, however, that in general his philosophical position, as well as an unexpected victory of the Roman legion Fulminata
due to a weather condition change in 174, which was attributed to the prayers of the Christian soldiers, made M. Aurelius particularly
flexible with Christians.
5. Work
More than a politician and a war leader, Marcus Aurelius considered himself a philosopher, as attested by his philosophical internal
dialogue “Meditations”. Since his youth he had been initiated in the Stoic philosophy, which diffused faith in detachment from the
material world and the minimization of sentiments of sorrow and joy, in order to achieve an internal and uninterrupted serenity. His
texts express the internal breach he experienced daily as an intellectual who ought to behave like a man of action. In his
correspondence with Fronto, however, one can trace his care for governing the empire and dealing with issues which cropped up.
6. Evaluation
The period which coincided with Marcus Aurelius' reign was decisive for Rome. The reviving of the two major war fronts, that of the
Danube and that of the East, marked the end of the pax romana and the period of prosperity for the inhabitants of the immense state.
He was not able himself, as a war leader, to address these challenges, but he knew how to chose collaborators who were victorious
in the fields of war. On the other hand, his moderate policy was particularly prudent, especially in religious matters, where the friction
between Christianity and paganism had started becoming evident. His written works, which are characterized by slight melancholy,
underline the need for faith in duty, even despite the will of the person. In a nutshell, Marcus Aurelius was the most typical emperor
for a period which can be characterized as the crepuscule of the Roman prime, offering thus his services at a very important historical
moment.
1. See SHA; Haines, S.R., Marcus Aurelius Antoninus: the communings to himself (London 1916); Champlin, R., Fronto and Antonine Rome
(Cambridge MA 1980).
2. Apart from a philosopher, Cornelius Fronto was also a man of action, since he participated actively at the campaign in Mesopotamia. He was one of
those enlightened personalities who pursued the Greek tradition, which projected as a model the human being endowed with many capabilities and
many interests. More than anything else, he was a real mentor to Marcus Aurelius. The emperor's correspondence with him remains one of the most
important sources for Roman history of this era. See Champlin, R., Fronto and Antonine Rome (Cambridge MA 1980).
3. For the plagues and the advice offered by oracles for dealing with them see IGR IV 360.
4. See his letter to the senate of Ephesus, in which he admonished the body not to proceed to destruction of silver statues of former emperors, in
order to create new statues for his honour, but to punish those who had gathered from others sums of money as debts to the senate and had not
given them back to the body (OGI 508).
5. See IGR III 84 (Amastris); 106 (Comana of Cappadocia); 114 (Pontic Sebastopolis); 332 (Sagalassos); 847 (Diocaesareia); IV 564 (Aezanoi); 625
(Trajanopolis); See also TAM II 419 (Patara, together with Faustina), 786, 787 (Arycanda) etc.
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Συγγραφή :
Μετάφραση :
Για παραπομπή :
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη , "Marcus Aurelius", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7816>
6. IGR IV 1290.
7. See for instance the important help offered by the city of Termessos TAM III 1.106. Maybe here can be attributed the inscription IGR IV 1290, which
speaks of the Bastarnian tax of Thyateira, possibly levied as a financial support for fighting against the Bastarnians in another area of the empire and
not for the financial revival of the city itself following a Bastarnian attack.
Βιβλιογραφία :
Ameling W., "Die Kinder des Marc Aurel und die Bildnistypen der Faustina Minor", ZPE, 90, 1992, 147-166
Asmis E., "The stoicism of M. Aurelius", H. Temporini (ed.), ANRW II 36.3, Berlin 1989, ANRW, 2228-2252
Bergmann M., Marc Aurel, Frankfurt am Main 1978
Birley A.M., M. Aurelius. A Biography, 2nd ed., London 1987
Brunt P.A., "Marcus Aurelius and the Christians", Deroux, C. (ed.), Studies in Latin Literature and Roman
History 1, Bruxelles 1979, 483 κ.εξ.
Brunt P.A., "Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations", JRS, 64, 1974, 1-20
Champlin E., Fronto and Antonine Rome, Cambridge MA 1980
Forstater Μ., The spiritual teachings of Marcus Aurelius, New York 2000
Grant M., The Antonines. The Roman Empire in transition, London 1994
Grimal P., Marc Aurèle, Paris 1991
Hadot P., Marc Aurèle: Écrits pour lui-même I, Paris 1998
Jäkel S., "Das politische und gesellschaftliche Weltbild im Denken Marc-Aurels", Eos, 80, 1992, 245-263
Krier J., "Zum Brief des Marcus Aurelius Caesar an den dionysischen Kultverein von Smyrna", Chiron, 10,
1980, 449-456
Klein, R. (ed.), Marc Aurel, Darmstadt 1979
Monti E., Marc Aurelio. Imperatore del dovere, Milano 1988
Eder W., "Marcus Aurelius", NPauly 7, 1999, NPauly, 870-875
Parain Ch., Marc-Aurèle, Bruxelles 1982
Potter D., "Procurators in Asia and Dacia under Marcus Aurelius. A Case Study of Imperial Initiative in
Government", ZPE, 123, 1998, 270-274
Proyart P., Marc-Aurèle, un empereur citoyen du monde, Paris 1962
Renan J.-E, Marc-Aurèle et la fin du monde antique, Paris 1882
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IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
Συγγραφή :
Μετάφραση :
Για παραπομπή :
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη , "Marcus Aurelius", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7816>
Rosen K., "Die angebliche Samtherrschaft von Μarc Aurel und Lucius Verus", Bonamente, G. – Duval, N.
(eds), Historia-Augusta-Kolloquium, Colloquium Parisinum 1990, Macerata 1991, 271-285
Rosen K., Marc Aurel, Rowohlt 1997
Rosen K., "Marc Aurel und das Ideal des civilis princeps", Schöllgen, G. – Scholten, C. (eds), Stimuli.
Exegese und ihre Hermeneutik in Antike und Christentum. Festschrift für Ernst Dassmann, Münster
1996, 154-160
Schall U., Marc Aurel. Der Philosoph auf dem Cäsarenthron, Esslingen/ München 1991
Stanton G.R., "M. Aurelius, Lucius Verus and Commodus", Temporini, H. (ed.), ANRW II.2, Berlin 1975,
ANRW, 478-549
Stemmer, K. (ed.), Kaiser Marc Aurel und seine Zeit. Das römische Reich im Umbruch, Berlin 1988
Szaivert W., Die Münzprägung der Kaiser M. Aurelius, L. Verus und Commodus,161-192, Wien 1986
Δικτυογραφία :
Coinage issued by Marcus Aurelius
http://www.usask.ca/antiquities/coins/marcus_aurelius.html
Μάρκος Αυρήλιος "Τα εις εαυτόν"
http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.html
Γλωσσάριo :
Augustus
A title initially given to Octavian in 27 BC, a few years after his victory over Mark Anthony in Actium. In Greek the epithet means
"Honoured''. Eventually, the title was used to complement the names of the Roman emperors.
consul, -lis
An official of the Roman state. In the period of the Republic, it was the highest military and political office: two consuls were elected each year. The
consular office survived into the Imperial period (and further into the early Byzantine period), becoming a honorary post.
Montanism
The heresy of Montanism was spread in Phrygia by Montanus in the 2nd century AD. It dealt with the interpretation of secondary issues of
the Christian theology, as the new prophets, the secular structure of the ecclesiastical administration, asceticism, and marriage. The
Montanoi or Montanists, the so-called Kataphryges, survived -despite the systematical persecutions- until the 8th century, when they were
forced to be baptized by Leo III the Isaurian and to follow the official dogma of the 4th Oecumenical Council of Chalcedon.
Χρονολόγιο
121 AD: Marcus Aurelius is born on April 26.
136 AD : M. Aurelius is engaged to Ceionia Favia.
138 AD.: Antoninus Pius is adopted by Hadrian and is forced to adopt M. Aurelius and L. Verus. Hadrian dies shortly afterwards.
139 AD: M. Aurelius becomes treasurer and princeps iuventutis.
140 AD: M. Aurelius is appointed consul.
145 AD: M. Aurelius is appointed consul for the second time. He marries to Ania Galeria Faustina.
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Μετάφραση :
Για παραπομπή :
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη
Καμάρα Αφροδίτη , "Marcus Aurelius", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7816>
147 AD: His daughter is born. He is appointed tribunicia potestas and possibly imperium proconsulare as well.
161 AD: His twin sons are born. Antoninus Pius dies and M. Aurelius succeeds him with L. Verus as co-emperor.The Parthian
campaign begins under the command of L. Verus.
165 AD: The first phase of the Parthian campaign is completed and the Danube campaign begins.
167 AD: The Parthian campaign is successfuly completed and a triumph is undertaken in Rome.
169 AD: L. Verus dies in the Danube front.
171-175 AD: The campaign to Germania is completed. The events of this period are portrayed on M. Aurelius' column in Rome.
175 AD: A. Cassius rebels. M. Aurelius visits the East.
176 AD: Death of Faustina at Chalala in Cappadocia.
178 AD: Troubles in the Danube front.
180 AD: M. Aurelius dies at Panonnia on March 17 and is succeeded by his son Commodus.
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