Kolbe Academy has discontinued use of Meditations. Beginning in the 2024-2025 academic year Kolbe will use our updated Roman Reader. The Roman Reader includes writing of Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius’ who were key in the development of Stoic philosophy, which followed the golden age of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Stoicism was an attempt to answer the problem of what out of balance in the world. The contrast of this philosophy to Christianity helps one see the need for God. This book includes works selected from these authors. Also, included is selections of Ovid, edited with a young audience in mind. This edition has extra wide margins for note-taking
Previously used in the following course:
- Literature 10: Ancient Roman:
- Homeschool
- Online
- Self-Paced
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) was Roman Emperor from 161 to 180, and is considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers. What today we call the Meditations take the form of a personal notebook, which wasn't intended for publication. Aurelius called them Writings To Myself. They were written in Greek, although his native tongue was Latin, and were probably composed while he was on military campaigns in central Europe, c. AD 171-175. He died, most likely from the plague or cancer, on a military campaign in present-day Austria. The work is divided into 12 short books.They record the passing thoughts, the maxims, the musings on life and death of a sensitive and humble mind which had been trained in the Stoic philosophy that contributed so much to Christianity.