The Good Emperor

“Execute every act of thy life as though it were thy last.” – Marcus Aurelius

With these words in mind we launch into a titanic struggle of one man versus the forces of nature, greed and control of dominion.

German Tribes
German Tribes

But first some background:

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Rome and Her Enemies Editor Jane Penrose

The Massive Roman Empire during Aurelis’s time:

Greater Empire1

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Marcus came to power in time of much turmoil. Despite his relatively short reign ….well I guess it was longer than many predecessors; he achieved much and preserved or reclaimed the Empire as it was from Trajan-Hadrianus era 117 AD-160 AD. Hadrian hand picked Marcus to take the reins via the usual complex adoptive processes and third parties at age of 17.

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As we can see from the above text images the Germanic tribes sensed weakness, the Parthians pressed from the East, so Marcus had his work cut out for himself. This might break a lesser man…Then add a major plague that denudes the Empire of population and worse fighting age men! Tough times indeed.

This is the time of history I would like to explore. I have a new game system to do so with.

Here is the man himself:

 

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Since this image was captured this statue of Marcus has been restored! It looks fab.

Isn’t she a beauty all refurbished? There are no statues that I know of in Rome of Aurelius’s adopted brother Versus who lead the fight against the Parthians, mores the pity. Versus had the benefit of strong generals in particular Cassius who eventually became Governor of Syria, a powerful position and one that would ultimately prove his downfall.

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Restored!

By 175 AD Aurelius had mostly quelled the Germanic tribes, only to have to race to Syria to put down a claim by Cassius to the Emperors laurels. However the Roman loyalist soldiers put Cassius to death. The trip was still costly to Aurelius as his wife Fasutina died on this trip.

Upon his return war erupted with the Germans again and Aurelius and his son Commodus jointly fought the German tribes until Aurelius’s death in 180 AD.

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Image credits: Osprey Barbarians Against Rome

Interestingly Marcus Aurelius is best remembered for his philosophical writing and interest in Stoicism not his generalship. Despite that we shall explore his world as he saw it.

166 AD to 179 AD. The Trials of Marcus Aurelius the Philosopher Emperor.

“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.”

2 thoughts on “The Good Emperor

  1. “”Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” – Marcus Aurelius ”
    One of the last true Stoic philosophers.

    1. Igor! Indeed. He is so well know for his writing. Little credit is given to his Generalship. I hope to explore a little of that and weave some groovy Stoicism into the reports!

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