Domitian

Roman emperor (81–96 CE) who exiled philosophers from Rome — including Epictetus — and whose reign represents the tyranny against which Stoic philosophy's inner freedom was practically tested.

Provides the political context for Epictetus's Stoic teaching — Epictetus was enslaved and then exiled by Domitian, and his teaching that external circumstances cannot touch the inner citadel of rational judgment is most convincing when it comes from someone who experienced both slavery and political exile.