Product Description

An accessible and scholarly study of an emperor who was human and just throughout his long reign which was frequently punctuated by wars with the northern tribes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #356351 in Books
• Published on: 1993-05-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
'Anthony Birley's biography is learned, sympathetic and comprehensive...It is a worthy monument to the man.'

From the Back Cover
Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor who ruled the Roman Empire between AD 161 and 180, is one of the best recorded individuals from antiquity. Even his face became more than usually familiar: the imperial coinage displayed his portrait for over 40 years, from the clean-shaven young heir of Antoninus to the war-weary, heavily bearded ruler who died at his post in his late fifties.
His correspondence with his tutor Fronto, and even more the private notebook he kept for his last ten years, the Meditations, provide a unique series of vivid and revealing glimpses into the character and preoccupations of this emperor who spent many years in terrible wars against northern tribes.
In this accessible and scholarly study, Professor Birley paints a portrait of an emperor who was human and just - an embodiment of the pagan virtues of Rome.

Customer Reviews

A Masterly Piece of Scholarship
In the wake of "Gladiator," it is perhaps a useful coincidence to have such a decent biography of the greatest of Roman emperors published. I should begin by pointing out that books of such scholarly value (I am reminded of "The Inner Citadel" by Pierre Hadot, a magnificent explanation of Aurelius' Meditations) are best reviewed by peers, and I cannot claim such qualifications. For what it's worth, I have long been fascinated by the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, and I found this biography to be immensely rewarding. Prospective buyers should be aware that this is a very deeply researched biography... It can be, at times, very heady reading.

The book is rich with anecdotes of Marcus' family life. How interesting it seems, after viewing "Gladiator" (much as I enjoyed it, it is a film as contemptuous of history as "U-571") to hear that Marcus' son, Commodus, at the age of eleven, ordered a bathkeeper to be thrown into a furnace for letting the bathwater go lukewarm. A sheepskin was burned instead, to mask the deception, and yet the contrast between impetuous Commodus and the stern, reflective Marcus at age eleven, shows how the apple does not always fall close to the tree. [Incidentally, Commodus was strangled in his bath on New Years Eve and did not meet his end in the arena at the hands of Maximus.]

Birley's work is at times awfully heavy reading for the layperson, but in the end proves a thoroughly enjoyable rendering. A triumph.