How would Marcus Aurelius have pronounced his Latin?

1. How do we know how ancient Latin was pronounced?
2. Was Marcus Aurelius Latin?
3. How do they know what Latin sounded like?

How do we know how ancient Latin was pronounced?

Knowledge of how Latin was pronounced comes from Roman grammar books, common misspellings by Romans, transcriptions into other ancient languages, and from how pronunciation has evolved in derived Romance languages.

Was Marcus Aurelius Latin?

Even though Aurelius' native language was Latin (the lingua franca of the Western Roman Empire), Aurelius was a great admirer of Greek culture and philosophy. It was common for educated Latin-speaking Romans to learn Greek as a second language.

How do they know what Latin sounded like?

Although we can never be completely sure of exactly how the Romans pronounced their language, there are a number of sources of evidence: The ancient grammarians who wrote descriptions of the language. Inscriptions giving alternative spellings of words. The way other languages write words of Latin origin.