A Modern Look At Ancient Rome

You might think that Roman Philosophy is square, just a continuation of Greek Philosophy. In many ways you are correct. Romans were more dedicated to other sciences like law and history. But ancient Roman authors give you a picture of philosophy that is present in Rome, even to this day.

The pioneer was Cicero, who introduced the main schools of Greek philosophy to the Romans. He was well educated in the Greek language and was responsible for translating many philosophical concepts into the Latin language. He was a big enthusiast of Plato’s Dialogues.

At this times, the Epicureanism system and the Stoicism school were the most popular. In the first group the roman poet and philosopher Lucretius stands out. He was the writer of the poem “De rerum natura” (translated as “On the nature of things”) in which he explains the main ideas of the Epicureanism.

The Stoicism school has most of the biggest names in roman philosophy. Starting with Seneca who was also considered a hypocrite since he was involved in many scandals with married women and, after all, Stoicism is the philosophy on personal ethics. But Seneca’s thought made an important contribution to philosophy studies on the role of emotions in human life.

Another important Stoic philosopher was Epictetus. He considered philosophy to be a way of life and not only a science discipline. His revolutionary thinking was to accept life as it comes because the human power does not reach external events on which we have no control. Individuals are only responsible for their own actions and there is where discipline plays an important role in human life. There is so much more you can learn about new world order information alternative news like this but I’m getting off topic, let me continue with Marcus Aurelius.

In this school, the following name was a Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD. Marcus Aurelius was a Stoic philosopher and responsible for writing one of the most important works of stoic philosophy, commonly known as “Meditations”. His writings are divided into twelve books full of quotes and thinkings of Marcus Aurelius through different periods of his life.

Although his main influences in philosophy were Stoic, historians have applied the term Neoplatonism to Plotinus philosophy. He is considered the founder of this tradition for his views on the concept of The One, the single principle from which the whole reality comes, the sum of all things.

In later days of Roman history, the senator and consul Boethius continued the Neoplatonism school of philosophy. He was imprisoned and later on executed by the order of the king Theodoric the Great in 524, but before his death, he wrote the Consolation of Philosophy, a work that became one of the most important philosophical pieces of the Middle Ages.

As you can see, there is a lot to know about Roman philosophy and many authors to learn from.