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Of Myths and Mortals with Jesse Owen.

Power, ambition, fear, violence, belief and reputation: the real people behind history's most enduring names.

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31 July 2026 25:58

Marcus Aurelius: The Notebook and the Throne

Marcus Aurelius commanded armies, courts and an empire built on slavery, yet privately warned himself against anger, vanity, comfort and the poison of absolute power. Behind the marble philosopher was a warm pupil, anxious moral workman, dynastic father and wartime emperor whose philosophy sometimes restrained cruelty but never dismantled Rome’s violent hierarchy.