Marcus Aurelius is far and away the most famous of the Stoics. This was true in the ancient world and it's true today. His statues dotted the houses of Romans across the enormous span of the empire. It was put up in temples for display and honor, just as today he is tattooed on biceps and backs. His wisdom was popular then…and today his Meditations remains a bestseller, 1,845 years after his death.
He is not just many people's favorite philosopher, he is, in many cases, the only philosopher they have even heard of. So it's rather sad—almost sacrilegious—that more people don't know who shaped Marcus's philosophical worldview. Just as today, we sometimes lament the fact that more people don't know "your favorite rapper's favorite rapper," not enough people know their favorite philosopher's favorite philosopher.
That is to say: Not enough people know Epictetus, the Greek slave whose philosophical teachings were what made Marcus Aurelius into a philosopher king.
So who was Epictetus, our favorite philosopher's favorite philosopher?
He was born a slave in 55 AD in Hierapolis (modern-day Turkey). His very name, in Greek—Epiktetos—is quite literally, "acquired one." From nearly the moment of his birth, his life was not his own. Sold to Epaphroditus, a powerful member of Nero's court, Epictetus endured brutality and cruelty. His leg was broken—by punishment or sadistic amusement, we don't know—and he walked with a limp for the rest of his life. In Nero's court, he had a ringside seat to how absolute power can corrupt absolutely—both with Nero's deprave and violent acts as emperor, but also Nero's growing addictions, and eventual enslavement, to his worst vices and impulses. He would go on to study under Musonius Rufus (known as the Roman Socrates) and become a philosophy teacher to the best minds of a generation—not before of course, he experienced another painful bit of adversity, when he was exiled at the hands of Domitian, one of the worst and most tyrannical emperors.
Somehow, despite this, his tenacity, his perspective, and his sheer self-sufficiency would make Epictetus—not just in his life, not just to the emperors he directly influenced, but in history and for all time—the ultimate symbol of the ability of human beings to find true freedom in the darkest of circumstances.
This month at Daily Stoic, we're working to give Epictetus the attention he deserves. July is Epictetus Month—a deep dive into the life, lessons, and legacy of this incredible teacher.
And if you want to go even deeper—if you want to study Epictetus the way Marcus did, to absorb his wisdom so fully that you can call it to mind the way Marcus does again and again throughout Meditations—we've created How To Read Epictetus (A Daily Stoic Guide).
It's a practical companion designed to help you get the most out of the Discourses and the Enchiridion, bringing Epictetus's wisdom into your daily life.
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