During the period of the Antonine dynasty (95.-192.), Roman Empire experienced some of their greatest days. Economy and politics, for the biggest part of that era, were largely stable and borders secured. There were some wars, but all up to the reign of emperor Marcus Aurelius (161.-180.), they were localised conflicts (Trajan’s war against Parthia, Hadrian’s war against Judaeans) and never threatened to hit the imperial heartland of Rome directly. It also proved very positive for the intellectual life of the Empire, and philosophy was not an exception. Philosophical schools like Platonism, Cynicism and especially Stoicism, enjoyed their greatest popularity, so much so that even of the emperors of that era became an established philosopher. Name of that emperor was Marcus Aurelius. This paper aims to examine emperor Marcus Aurelius as an important Roman historical figure in its entirety, with an emphasis on its philosophical writings and overall legacy in that area. Latter came to posterity in form of book we now know as Meditations, a peculiar compilation of his personal philosophical and stoic writings. Meditations are an inseparable source of information for every biography of emperor-philosopher and a very useful tool for understanding Marcus’s personality. Along with various historiographical sources for his reign, this paper will try to make use of Meditations to find philosopher in an emperor, and an emperor in a philosopher. Also, it aims to provide philosophical analysis of that text and provide some guidelines on how to examine and interpret Meditations as a historian.