Marcus Aurelius was born in Rome on April 26, 121 AD. He was raised in an environment dominated by the Greek spirit and received an education accordingly. He was adopted as the heir to the throne, which he ascended to in 161, after the death of his adoptive father Antoninus Pius.

As emperor, he was primarily interested in legislation, also caring for the weaker social classes, while his defensive policy was successful, as his reign marked the beginning of the end of the pax Romana. He died in a campaign in March 180 AD.

As a philosopher, he is a consistent representative of Stoicism, one of the famous triad of the New Stoa (along with Epictetus and Seneca). With the work Meditations, written in Greek (a series of reflections that sometimes take the form of commentary on the views and sayings of past philosophers, sometimes observations addressed by the author to himself, and sometimes of a mainly apologetic character), he provided one of the most famous works of Stoic philosophy, a sample of moral-practical reflection and additionally the views on God and nature of the school.