Marcus Aurelius was the last of the so-called “Five Good Emperors” of the golden age of the Roman Empire, but he is also known as one of antiquity’s most influential Stoic philosophers. Born into a wealthy patrician family in 121 CE, Aurelius was dedicated to intellectual pursuits, Stoicism chief among them. He was greatly inspired by Epictetus, a former enslaved person turned Stoic philosopher who lived almost a century before Aurelius. Founded in Athens in the third century BCE, Stoicism’s core principles emphasize virtue, resilience, self-control, and rationality.

Aurelius relied on these beliefs during his time in power; in his most famous work, Meditations, written as a personal journal sometime around 171 to 175 CE, Aurelius recorded personal reflections on how his Stoic approach helped him navigate challenging times. Meditations is still considered a classic in self-improvement literature, while Stoicism remains influential in the field of modern psychotherapy, where its idea that our emotions are shaped by our beliefs serves as the foundation for cognitive behavioral therapy.