МАРК АВРЕЛИЙ

Marcus Aurelius (121–180 A.D.)

Philosopher-stoic and Roman Emperor. His only work Meditations expresses his philosophy in the form of aphorisms.

The impending crisis of the Roman Empire dominated Marcus Aurelius's philosophy. In his interpretation of stoicism, Marcus Aurelius ultimately abandoned all materialistic features and became a religious mystic. For him God, the prime basis of all that is living, is universal reason, in which all forms of individual consciousness are dissolved after physical death. His ethics was permeated with fatalism, preaching of humility and asceticism. He appealed for moral perfection and purification, for self-consolation through the cognition of the fatalistic necessity which rules the world.

Marcus Aurelius's philosophy greatly influenced Christianity, despite his harsh treatment of Christians.

Марк Аврелий

(Marcus Aurelius) римский император; см. Аврелий Марк.