Origin and name. Aelius Aristides was born around 117 CE at Hadrianoi (Hadrianoutherai) in Mysia, in the north-western part of Asia Minor (other sources put him at his father's estate near Hadrianoi, others at Smyrna; the exact place of birth is contested). The tria nomina P. Aelius Aristides Theodorus indicates Roman citizenship received by the family under Hadrian (whence the nomen Aelius — the imperial name). His father Eudaemon was a local landowner and priest of Olympian Zeus.

Education. He studied under several grammarians and rhetors in Phrygia and at Athens, including under Alexander of Cotiaeum — the principal grammarian and Homeric scholar of his generation and subsequently Marcus's teacher. This link between Aristides and Alexander is the only documented case in which a teacher of Marcus's appears separately as the instructor of a major literary figure of the age. On Aristides's own testimony, he was a hard-working pupil, deeply dependent on his teachers; Alexander is a figure for whom Aristides preserved a steady reverence.

Illness and the cult of Asclepius. From about 144 CE, Aristides suffered from a heavy and prolonged illness (its exact nature is debated — perhaps a psychosomatic complex with somatic complications), and spent about two decades at Pergamum, at its temple of Asclepius, for his treatment. This period is documented in his own writings — the Sacred Tales (Ἱεροὶ Λόγοι, Or. 47–52 in the standard numbering) — a unique corpus of religious-medical self-description from antiquity. The Sacred Tales contain details of incubation dreams in which the god Asclepius prescribed remedies, regimen, and physical exercises; this is a direct parallel to what Marcus himself says in 01-17 about "remedies through dreams at Caieta."

Oratorical career. Apart from the Sacred Tales, Aristides is the author of about fifty oratorical works (the complete collection survives thanks to the Byzantine manuscript tradition). The principal genres:

• Panegyrics, including the "Roman Oration" (Εἰς Ῥώμην, Or. 26) — perhaps the most famous contemporary panegyric on Roman power, delivered around 144 CE or somewhat later, under Antoninus Pius.
• City-orations in honour of major poleis (Smyrna, Athens, Cyzicus).
• Polemical works against Platonist critics of rhetoric (two large speeches "Against Plato" in defence of rhetoric).
• Hymns in prose to the gods (to Zeus, Athena, Serapis).
• Encomiastic and funeral orations, including the Ἐπιτάφιος εἰς Ἀλέξανδρον (the Funeral Oration for Alexander) — the speech in honour of the death of Alexander the Grammarian, numbered Or. 32 in Behr's standard numbering (the Dindorf numbering differs).

Connection with Marcus Aurelius

No direct acquaintance is recorded. Marcus, Aristides, and the Antonine court existed in the same cultural field, but no direct personal contact between Marcus and Aristides is recorded in the sources. Aristides lived predominantly in Asia Minor — at the Asclepieion of Pergamum and at Smyrna — while Marcus was in Rome and in the military camps on the Danube.

The earthquake at Smyrna in 178. One important connecting episode of the later years: after the catastrophic earthquake of 178 destroyed a great part of Smyrna, Aristides addressed Marcus in writing with a description of the disaster and a request for help; Marcus, on the testimony of Philostratus (Vitae Sophistarum, book 2, in the vita of Aristides), gave orders for the rebuilding of the city from the imperial treasury. This is the only documented direct contact.

The connection through Alexander the Grammarian. In 01-10 Marcus describes Alexander as an exemplar of pedagogical tact. Aristides is the external testimony to the same Alexander: his funeral oration contains a detailed vita of Alexander, jointly reconstructable from it together with the scant information in SHA Marcus. Aristides and Marcus are thus two independent pupils of one teacher, and their testimonies about his character converge (although Marcus speaks of the everyday pedagogical tactic, while Aristides speaks of the public reputation). This gives Aristides a unique verificatory function: he confirms Marcus's internal portrait by an external witness, in the same way as Claudius Maximus is verified through Apuleius in 01-15.

The Sacred Tales and Marcus's dreams in 01-17. Aristides is the most detailed ancient document of the practice of incubation (receiving medical instructions in a dream at a temple). When Marcus in 01-17 gives thanks to the gods for "remedies given through dreams, including against spitting of blood and dizziness, at Caieta" — he draws on the same cultural-religious practice that Aristides documented over two decades. The Sacred Tales are the principal external context for understanding this line of Marcus's.

Aristides is not named directly by Marcus. The connections arise through the commentary:

• 01-10 — Aristides as another pupil of Alexander the Grammarian and author of his funeral oration (the Funeral Oration for Alexander, Or. 32 Behr).
• 01-16 — Aristides's "Roman Oration" (Or. 26), a panegyric contemporary with the reign of Antoninus Pius; a parallel to Marcus's portrait of Antoninus.
• 01-17 — Aristides's Sacred Tales as the principal background for the line on "remedies given through dreams at Caieta."

• Aristides, Opera Omnia — the standard editions are Dindorf (Leipzig 1829) and the more recent Keil + Lenz–Behr; Russian translations are fragmentary (S. I. Radzig and others; no complete translation exists).
• C. A. Behr, Aelius Aristides and the Sacred Tales, Amsterdam 1968 — the standard monograph on the Sacred Tales.
• C. A. Behr (tr.), P. Aelius Aristides: The Complete Works, 2 vols., Leiden 1981–1986 — the English translation of the whole corpus.
• L. Pernot, Rhétorique de l'éloge dans le monde gréco-romain, Paris 1993 — a fundamental study of the panegyric genre of the Antonine age, with sections on Aristides.
• Philostratus, Vitae Sophistarum, book 2 (the vita of Aristides) — the principal ancient vita.