When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literary and Philosophical References
- Aesop, Fables, "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse" (11.22)
- Aristophanes, The Wasps reference to King Cecrops (4.23)
- Asclepius (5.8.1, 6.43)
- Epictetus, The Discourses (1.7.3, 4)
- Empedocles (8.43, 11.12, 12.3)
- Euripides, Antiope (7.41, 11.6.1), Bellerophon (7.38, 11.6.1), Chrysippus (7.50, 10.21), Hypsipyle (7.40, 11.6.1), Suppliants (7.51)
- Hesiod, Works and Days (5.33, 10.8.3, 11.32)
- Homer, The Odyssey (9.24, 11.31)
- Menander, The Ghost (5.12)
- Plato, Apology (7.44, 7.45), Gorgias (7.46), Republic (5.10), Theaetetus (10.23)
- Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus (11.6)
Historical References
- Agrippa (Marcus Vispanius Agrippa) (8.31)
- Alexander the Grammarian (Alexander of Cotiaeum) (1.10)
- Alexander the Great, (6.24, 8.3, 9.29, 10.27)
- $25 million (Alexander Peloplaton or Alexander of Seleucia) (1.12)
- Antoninus Pius (1.16, 6.30, 10.27)
- Archelaus I of Macedon, son of Perdicca (11.25); Marcus mistakenly identifies Perdicca as the king whose invitation Socrates declines
- Archimedes (6.47)
- Augustus (8.31)
- Cato the Elder (4.33)
- Chrysippus (6.42)
- Crates (6.13)
- Croesus (10.27)
- Marcus Annius Versus (grandfather and adoptive father of Marcus Aurelius) (1.1)
- Marcus Annius Versus (biological father of Marcus Aurelius) (1.2)
- Demetrius of Phalerum (9.29)
- Democritus (3.3, 4.24)
- Diogenes (8.3, 11.6.2)
- Diogenes Laertius (4.11)
- Diogenetus (3)
- Domitia Lucilla (1.3)
- Epictetus (1.7.3, 4.41, 9.24, 11.23, 11.34-38)
- Epicurus (7.64, 11.26)
- Eudoxus of Cnidus (6.47)
- Fronto (Marcus Cornelius Fronto) (1.11)
- Hadrian (8.37, 10.27)
- Hipparchus (6.47)
- Heraclitus (3.3, 6.42, 6.47, 8.3)
- Julius Caesar (8.3)
- Claudius Maximus (1.15)
- Leon of Salamis (7.66)
- Menippus (6.47)
- Monimus of Syracuse (2.15)
- Nero (3.16)
- Phalaris (3.16)
- Philip of Macedon (9.29, 10.27)
- Pompey (8.3)
- Pythagoras (6.47)
- Rusticus (Quintus Junius Rusticus) (1.7, 3)
- Scipio (4.33)
- Severus (Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus) (1.14, 10.31)
- Sextus of Chaeronea (1.9, 4)
- Socrates (6.47, 7.66, 8.3, 11.25, 11.28, 11.39)
- Theophrastus (2.10)
- Xanthippe (11.28)
- Xenocrates (6.13)
- Xenophon (10.31)