Epictetus
Epictetus was a Greek Stoic philosopher who lived from c. 50 – c. 135 AD. He was originally born into slavery at Hierapolis, Phrygia.
Early in life, Epictetus acquired a passion for philosophy and, with the permission of his wealthy enslaver, he studied Stoic philosophy under Musonius Rufus.
Epictetus obtained his freedom sometime after the death of Nero in AD 68, and he began to teach philosophy in Rome until around AD 93, when the Roman emperor Domitian banished all philosophers from the city. After his banishment, Epictetus moved to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece, where he founded a school of philosophy and lived for the rest of his life.
Epictetus himself wrote nothing, but one of his pupils - a young man named Arrian who would go on to become an important historian in his own right - took notes of the conversations in the school and later worked them up into the Discourses of Epictetus.