Latest / Marcus Aurelius: Rome's Philosopher King — Fexingo History / Marcus Aurelius and the Stoic Emperor's Greek Tutor Herodes Atticus
Transcript
- Lucas: When you think of Marcus Aurelius as a young man, you picture him under the tutelage of the best minds of his age — Fronto, Rusticus, Apollonius. But one teacher stands out for the sheer drama of his life: Herodes Atticus. Luna: The Greek sophist who built that huge theatre in Athens? Lucas: Exactly. Herodes Atticus was one of the wealthiest men in the entire Roman Empire. He came from an old Athenian family with massive estates in Greece, Italy, and even Egypt. But he wasn't just a rich guy who threw up buildings — he was a famous orator, a star of what we call the Second Sophistic, a revival of Greek rhetoric and performance that swept the empire in the first and second centuries AD. Lucas: And Marcus adored him. The Historia Augusta tells us that Marcus studied Greek rhetoric under Herodes, and even though Marcus's own style was more Stoic — plain and direct — he always spoke of Herodes with respect. But Herodes himself was anything but Stoic. He was passionate, vindictive, and embroiled in one of the most famous feuds of the age. Lucas: So who was this guy, really? He was born around 101 AD, so he was about twenty years older than Marcus. His father was a senator, and his grandfather had been a philosopher. But the family fortune came from a hidden treasure — literally. Luna: A hidden treasure? Lucas: According to Philostratus, the biographer of the sophists, Herodes's father found a buried hoard of gold in one of his houses. He tried to hide it, but the emperor Nerva found out and confiscated it — only to later give it back. That story might be legend, but there's no doubt the family was extraordinarily wealthy. And Herodes spent lavishly: on buildings, on performances, on his own reputation. Lucas: He funded aqueducts, a stadium in Athens, and of course the Odeon on the south slope of the Acropolis — the one you mentioned. That theatre, built in memory of his wife Regilla, still stands and is used for performances today. It held about five thousand people and had a cedar roof — a huge deal in its time. Luna: Wait, he built it for his wife? I thought there was a scandal around her. Lucas: You're right — and that's where things get dark. Regilla was a Roman noblewoman, but she died in Athens under suspicious circumstances. Herodes was accused of having her beaten to death by one of his freedmen, a man named Alcimedon. The family brought charges, and the case went all the way to the emperor — Marcus himself. Lucas: Marcus appointed a tribunal of senators, and Herodes was basically convicted — but he was only fined a small amount, about a million sesterces, which for him was pocket change. The scandal didn't ruin him, but it tarnished his reputation. Philostratus tries to defend him, saying he was mad with grief, but the story stuck. Luna: And Marcus still kept him as a friend? That seems hard to square with Stoic ethics. Lucas: That's a great question. Marcus was known for his clemency, but he also had a complex relationship with Herodes. They had a falling out at one point — Herodes felt slighted when Marcus didn't appoint him to a major governorship. There's a letter from Fronto, Marcus's other rhetoric teacher, trying to patch things up. But Marcus never fully broke with him. In the Meditations, he thanks the gods for giving him 'such a teacher as Herodes' — though some scholars think he's being ironic. Lucas: Herodes also had a weird obsession with his dead children. He lost two sons, and he had statues of them made in ivory and gold, and he even had a servant who would follow him around whispering 'remember you are mortal' — a kind of reverse triumph ritual. But then he built them a lavish tomb at Marathon, called the Triopion, which was essentially a religious complex dedicated to them. The inscription there is still preserved. Luna: That's... a lot. It sounds like he was performing grief as much as feeling it. Lucas: Absolutely. And that's the key to understanding the Second Sophistic — it was all about performance. These men were stars, giving speeches that could draw crowds like rock concerts. Herodes was the biggest name. He even had his own school of rhetoric, and his pupils included future emperors and senators. He was a patron of the arts, but he also had a vicious temper. There's a story that he once had a student beaten for not memorizing a speech. Lucas: But his legacy in stone is undeniable. Besides the Odeon, he built a stadium at Delphi, a nymphaion at Olympia, and the exedra at the sanctuary of the Great Gods in Samothrace. He literally reshaped the landscape of Roman Greece. The question is: what did Marcus, the Stoic emperor, really think of all this? Luna: I'd imagine he found it a bit vulgar. Lucas: Probably. Marcus himself was famously frugal — he sold off imperial treasures to fund the Marcomannic Wars. But he also understood the political value of euergetism, of benefaction. Herodes's buildings made the empire look good. And on a personal level, Marcus probably saw Herodes as a brilliant but flawed man, someone he could learn from even in his excesses. After all, Stoicism isn't about retreating from the world; it's about engaging with it virtuously. Lucas: There's also a deeper cultural story here. Herodes was Greek, but he operated entirely within the Roman system. He was a Roman senator, a consul, and a friend of emperors. He embodied the fusion of Greek and Roman elites that defined the Antonine age. His life shows us that being a Roman didn't mean giving up your Greek identity — it meant using it to claim status and power. Luna: So in a way, he's a perfect example of the Pax Romana working as intended. Lucas: Exactly. You had a wealthy Greek aristocrat who could build monuments, command crowds, and even fight a legal battle with the emperor — and still come out on top. That's the system working at its most dynamic. But it also shows the tensions: the Romans never fully trusted the Greeks, and the Greeks often looked down on the Romans as barbarians. Herodes navigated that tightrope better than anyone. Lucas: And we should also mention his rivalry with another sophist, Polemon of Laodicea. Those two had a legendary feud — they would insult each other in public speeches, and their students would get into brawls. Polemon once said Herodes had 'the soul of a slave.' Herodes shot back that Polemon was 'a man who should have been a slave.' It was like ancient professional wrestling. Luna: But with more togas. Lucas: Exactly. The point is, this was a world where rhetoric was combat, and Herodes was a champion. And his influence on Marcus was real, even if Marcus chose a different path. Marcus may have rejected the flamboyance, but he absorbed the discipline of argument and the power of language. It shaped how he wrote the Meditations — not as a polished treatise, but as a kind of internal rhetoric, a persuasion of the self. Lucas: You know, it's interesting that we can talk about all this without any commercial breaks. That's a choice we've made with this show — no ads, no sponsors. If you appreciate that, there's a way to support us directly: buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's nice to just have the conversation flow without interruption. Keeps us focused on what matters. Lucas: So back to Herodes: one of the most revealing episodes in his life came when he traveled to Rome to defend himself in a lawsuit — not Regilla's case, but a later one brought by his own freedmen. He gave a speech so powerful that Marcus, who was presiding, actually wept. That's the kind of rhetorical power we're talking about. Luna: He made the emperor cry? That's incredible. Lucas: It is. Philostratus says the whole court was moved. And Marcus didn't just weep — he acquitted Herodes. That speaks to the hold Herodes had over people. He was charismatic, persuasive, and utterly unabashed. Even in his old age, he continued to teach and perform. He died around 177 AD, just a few years before Marcus himself. Lucas: But here's a final thought: Herodes's Odeon in Athens was destroyed by the Heruli in 267 AD, then rebuilt. Today it's a major tourist attraction. But his real monument might be the intellectual tradition he embodied — the Second Sophistic, which kept Greek culture alive under Roman rule. And through Marcus, some of that rhetoric filtered into Stoic philosophy, even if the philosophy rejected the showmanship. Luna: So do you think Marcus was actually influenced by Herodes's ideas, or just by his method? Lucas: I think mostly by the method. The Stoic core of the Meditations is pure — it's Epictetus and Rusticus, not Herodes. But the way Marcus argues with himself, the way he uses vivid metaphors and imagined dialogues — that's rhetoric. He's not just writing aphorisms; he's performing a kind of self-persuasion. And that's a skill he learned from the sophists, even if he put it to a very different purpose. Lucas: So Herodes Atticus turns out to be a crucial figure for understanding Marcus — not as a philosophical influence, but as a living example of the world Marcus had to navigate. The philosopher emperor who wrote about inner peace was also a man who dealt with lawsuits, scandals, and larger than life personalities every day. Herodes was one of the most challenging of those personalities. Luna: It's almost like Marcus's Stoicism was tested by having to deal with Herodes. Lucas: Absolutely. And if you read the Meditations, you can imagine him writing a passage about patience or forbearance, and then looking up to find another letter from Herodes demanding something. It makes the philosophy more real — it's not abstract; it's the tool he used to manage a very difficult friend. Lucas: And that's the story of Herodes Atticus: a man of immense talent, wealth, and ego, who left his mark on Athens and on the emperor who judged him. He's one of those figures who makes the Antonine age feel alive, with all its contradictions. Luna: He sounds like someone you'd want to have dinner with — but only once. Lucas: Perfectly put. And I think Marcus would agree.