Dead Famous Marcus Aurelius Print
Dead Famous Marcus Aurelius Print
The playlist they never made.
A beautifully designed A3 art print combining history, humour and music. Seven tracks specially chosen for Marcus Aurelius, alongside music they actually heard, or could have heard, in their lifetime. Scan the QR code to listen to the curated playlist on Spotify.
- Unframed: A3 (297 x 420 mm) print on smooth matt art paper
- Dead Famous Series No. 015
- Printed to order and delivered in the UK
Framed option
- A3 classic wooden frame (20mm face, 22mm depth) with a mount and Perspex glazing
- Frame colours: black or white (painted obeche) or natural (oak-effect laminate)
- Made to order: allow around 3–5 working days for production and tracked delivery
- Free UK delivery
No. 015 · Philosopher Emperor · AD 121 – 180
“Time Is A River, Press Play”
Roman emperor from 161 to 180 who spent much of his reign on campaign and wrote the Meditations, private notes to himself in Greek on Stoic self-discipline, duty and accepting what cannot be changed.
Editor's note Marcus Aurelius is understood to have listened to this playlist once, without complaint, noting in his journal that the shuffle function was 'simply the nature of things'. He declined on principle to skip Let It Go, and later described it as the hardest campaign of his reign.
The seven
- 01Let It Be — The Beatles (1970)The Stoic programme in three words: accept what is outside your control. He spent a whole book reminding himself.
- 02The Times They Are a-Changin' — Bob Dylan (1964)"Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight." He got there eighteen centuries earlier.
- 03Dust in the Wind — Kansas (1977)"Alexander the Great and his mule driver both died, and the same thing happened to both." An emperor's memento mori.
- 04Under Pressure — Queen & David Bowie (1981)Ruled through the Antonine Plague and years of war on the Danube, writing philosophy by lamplight in army camps.
- 05Rule the World — Take That (2007)The one man who actually did, then spent his nights in camp warning himself: "Take care not to be turned into a Caesar."
- 06Imagine — John Lennon (1971)The Stoic ideal of the citizen of the world, a single community of all people, set to a piano.
- 07Let It Go — Idina Menzel (2013)Twelve books of Stoic philosophy, summarised in a single chorus. He would object to the volume, then accept it.
Behind the playlist · No. 015
Behind the playlist.
The notes that go with this playlist on Spotify: why these seven, what they actually heard, and the Editor's note.
Listen on Spotify
