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Marcus Aurelius, or more accurately, Marcus Aelius Aurelius Antoninus, was born to the name Marcus Annius Verus in a Roman family native to Spain. ... Yet Marcus soon abandoned his rhetoric education and devoted himself to the study of philosophy. ...
It is unclear if Rusticus was a friend or a tutor but from him Marcus borrowed a book of Stoic philosophy written by the great thinker, writer, and philosopher Epictetus. ... He called Marcus “Verissimus," meaning, literally “Most Truthful. ...
Marcus on the path to Emperor
It seems that in the mind of Emperor Hadrian the best way to be succeeded was not by a son of his own, but by an adopted one. ... His second choice was not the then seventeen year-old Marcus Verus but the senator T. ... He required Antoninus, Marcus’s uncle, to adopt him.
Marcus’s name was henceforth Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus. The adoption took place on February 25, AD 138, when Marcus was a little more that 17 years-old. ...
During this time Marcus lived the life of a Roman politician. ...
Yet, on March 7, in the year 161, when Antoninus succumbed to fever about twelve miles from Rome, in Etruria, there were no objections and no opposition to Marcus’s leadership. Antoninus signaled his intent to have Marcus be his sucessor by having the statue “Fortuna,” which had been in his bedroom, placed in Marcus’s. Marcus was forty years-old at the time. ...
Marcus, now Marcus Aurelius, was joint Emperor with his brother, Lucius Verus, a diarchy, the first in Roman history.
Approximate Word count = 1283
Approximate Pages = 5.1
(250 words per page double spaced)
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