Notes to Himself

Timeline

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To Himself sits inside three strands at once: the philosophy Marcus inherited, the wider world he lived in, and the short, hard life in which he wrote it. Below, all three are drawn to scale.

Marcus Aurelius in context A 500-year Stoic tradition, the wider world — and the short life in which the Meditations were written MARCUS’S LIFE 400 BCE 300 BCE 200 BCE 100 BCE 1 CE 100 CE 200 CE 300 CE STOICISM Zeno & the Stoac. 300 BCE Chrysippus3rd–2nd c. BCE Reaches Rome1st c. BCE Seneca & Epictetus1st c. CE The Meditations2nd c. CE WORLD c. 450–250 BCEEcclesiastes 221 BCEQin unifies China 27 BCEAugustus 30 CEJesus crucified 70 CESecond Temple c. 100 CEGospels spread 122 CEHadrian’s Wall c. 170–180 CEChristianity & Han 250–300 CEChristianity grows His life, up close — 121–180 CE MARCUS 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 Born in Rome121 CE 138 CEAdopted by Antoninus Becomes emperor161 CE 165 CEAntonine Plague Danube wars167–175 CE c. 170–180 CEMeditations written Cassius revolts175 CE 177 CECommodus co-emperor Dies in Pannonia180 CE

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