Marcus Aurelius and His Legacy: Seeking Rome’s Kingdom of Gold

Explores how Marcus Aurelius has been reimagined across centuries as philosophy, legend, and legacy endure.

Millions of visitors to Rome’s Capitoline Museums admire the great bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 CE), practising Stoic and the last ’Good Emperor’ before Rome commenced its prolonged decline. One ancient historian compared the succession from Marcus to his son Commodus as a descent from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust. The statue’s fortuitous survival occurred only because of a longstanding belief that it represented Constantine, the first Christian Emperor - an instance of the mysterious ways in which Marcus’s complex legacies would endure.

The recent revival of interest in Stoicism has seen renewed focus on Marcus Aurelius. While new editions of Marcus’s work Meditations, and fresh biographical treatments, have appeared, there remain lesser-known sources which shed light on how Marcus was remembered, from intriguing medieval legends, right through to the twenty-first century. Each generation has interpreted Marcus Aurelius, his writings, his deeds, and his personality anew, as he remains a role-model and the closest actual instance, in Western history, of an ideal ruler. This book collects and interprets, for the first time, a range of cultural receptions, enriching our understanding of this perennially compelling figure.