Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius[1] (ca. 480–524 or 525) was a Christian philosopher of the early 6th century. He was born in Rome to an ancient and important family which included emperors Petronius Maximus and Olybrius and many consuls. His father, Flavius Manlius Boethius, was consul in 487 after Odoacer deposed the last Western Roman Emperor. Boethius himself was consul in 510 in the kingdom of the Ostrogoths. In 522 he saw his two sons become consuls. Boethius was executed by King Theodoric the Great, who suspected him of conspiring with the Byzantine Empire. It may be possible to link his work to the game of Rithmomachia. Boethius' exact birth date is unknown. It is generally established at around AD 481, the same year of birth as St. Benedict. Boethius was born to a patrician family which had been Christian for about a century. His father's line included two popes, and both parents counted Roman emperors among their ancestors. Although Boethius is believed to have been born into a Christian family, some[who?] scholars have conjectured that, Boethius abandoned Christianity for paganism, perhaps on his deathbed. Momigliano argues "many people have turned to Christianity for consolation. Boethius turned to paganism. His Christianity collapsed — it collapsed so thoroughly that perhaps he did not even notice its disappearance.". It is unknown where Boethius received his formidable education in Greek. Historical documents are ambiguous on the subject, but Boethius may have studied in Athens, and perhaps Alexandria. Since the elder Boethius is recorded as proctor of a school in Alexandria circa AD 470, the younger Boethius may have received some grounding in the classics from his father or a close relative. As a result of his education and experience, Boethius entered the service of Theodoric the Great, who in 506 had written him a graceful and complimentary letter about his studies. Theodoric subsequently commissioned the young Boethius to perform many roles. By 520, at the age of about forty, Boethius had risen to the position of magister officiorum, the head of all the government and court services. Afterwards, his two sons were both appointed consuls, reflecting their father's prestige. In 523, however, Theodoric ordered Boethius arrested on charges of treason, possibly for a suspected plot with the Byzantine Emperor Justin I, whose religious orthodoxy (in contrast to Theodoric's Arian opinions) increased their political rivalry. Boethius himself attributes his arrest to the slander of his rivals. Theodoric was feeling threatened by events, however, and several other leading members of the landed elite were arrested and executed at about the same time. Also, because of his previous ties to Theodahad, Boethius apparently found himself on the wrong side in the succession dispute following the untimely death of Eutharic, Theodoric's announced heir. Whatever the cause, Boethius found himself stripped of his title and wealth and imprisoned at Pavia, where he was executed the following year. The method of his execution varies in the sources; he was perhaps killed with an axe or a sword, or was clubbed to death. His remains were entombed in the church of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro in Pavia. In Dante's Paradise of The Divine Comedy, the spirit of Boethius is pointed out by St. Thomas Aquinas: Boethius's best known work is the Consolation of Philosophy, which he wrote most likely while in exile under house arrest or in prison while awaiting his execution, but his lifelong project was a deliberate attempt to preserve ancient classical knowledge, particularly philosophy. He intended to translate all the works of Aristotle and Plato from the original Greek into Latin. His completed translations of Aristotle's works on logic were the only significant portions of Aristotle available in Europe until the 12th century. However, some of his translations (such as his treatment of the topoi in The Topics) were mixed with his own commentary, which reflected both Aristotelian and Platonic concepts. Boethius also wrote a commentary on the Isagoge by Porphyry, which highlighted the existence of the problem of universals: whether these concepts are subsistent entities which would exist whether anyone thought of them, or whether they only exist as ideas. This topic concerning the ontological nature of universal ideas was one of the most vocal controversies in medieval philosophy. Besides these advanced philosophical works, Boethius is also reported to have translated important Greek texts for the topics of the quadrivium.[3] His loose translation of Nicomachus's treatise on arithmetic (De institutione arithmetica libri duo) and his textbook on music (De institutione musica libri quinque, unfinished) contributed to medieval education. His translations of Euclid on geometry and Ptolemy on astronomy, if they were completed, no longer survive. Boethius also wrote Christian theological treatises, which generally support the orthodox position against Arianism other dissident forms of Christianity. These include On the Trinity, On the Catholic Faith, and a Book against Eutychius and Nestorius. His authorship was periodically disputed because of the secular nature of his other work, until the 19th century discovery of a biography by his contemporary Cassiodorus which mentioned his writing on the subject.[4] Boethius has been called by Lorenzo Valla the last of the Romans and the first of the scholastic philosophers. Despite the use of his mathematical texts in the early universities, it is his final work, the Consolation of Philosophy, that assured his legacy in the Middle Ages and beyond. This work is cast as a dialogue between Boethius himself, at first bitter and despairing over his imprisonment, and the spirit of philosophy, depicted as a woman of wisdom and compassion. Alternately composed in prose and verse, the Consolation teaches acceptance of hardship in a spirit of philosophical detachment from misfortune. Parts of the work are reminiscent of the Socratic method of Plato's dialogues, as the spirit of philosophy questions Boethius and challenges his emotional reactions to adversity. The work was translated into Old English by King Alfred, and into later English by Chaucer and Queen Elizabeth; many manuscripts survive and it was extensively edited, translated and printed throughout Europe from the 14th century onwards.[5] Many commentaries on it were compiled and it has been one of the most influential books in European culture. No complete bibliography has ever been assembled but it would run into thousands of items. "The Boethian Wheel" (or "The Wheel of Fortune") was a concept, stretching back at least to Cicero,[6] that Boethius uses frequently in the Consolation; it remained very popular throughout the Middle Ages, and is still often seen today. As the wheel turns those that have power and wealth will turn to dust; men may rise from poverty and hunger to greatness, while those who are great may fall with the turn of the wheel. It was represented in the Middle Ages in many relics of art depicting the rise and fall of man. Boethius is recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, possibly because a legend arose in the early Middle Ages that he had died a martyr for his maintenance of Catholicism against the Arian Theodoric.[7] His feast day is October 23. Pope Benedict XVI has insisted on his relevance to modern day Christians.[8] Boethius figures prominently in the worldview and philosophical musings of fictional character Ignatius J. Reilly in the novel, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Christopher Eccleston quotes a passage from Consolation of Philosophy during a brief cameo as a homeless man in the movie 24 Hour Party People. Criticism of religion • Exegesis • History of religion • Religion • Religious philosophy • Theology • Relationship between religion and science • Religion and politics • Faith and rationality • more... 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Albrecht Ritschl • Alvin Plantinga • Anselm of Canterbury • Antony Flew • Augustine of Hippo • Averroes • Baron d'Holbach • Baruch Spinoza • Blaise Pascal • Boethius • David Hume • Desiderius Erasmus • Emil Brunner • Ernst Cassirer • Ernst Haeckel • Ernst Troeltsch • Friedrich Schleiermacher • Gaunilo of Marmoutiers • Georg Hegel • George Santayana • Harald Høffding • Heraclitus • Immanuel Kant • J. L. Mackie • Johann Gottfried Herder • Karl Barth • Ludwig Feuerbach • Maimonides • Paul Tillich • Pico della Mirandola • Ramakrishna • Reinhold Niebuhr • René Descartes • Richard Swinburne • Robert Merrihew Adams • Rudolf Otto • Sigmund Freud • Søren Kierkegaard • Thomas Aquinas • Thomas Chubb • William Alston • William James • W.K. Clifford • William L. Rowe • William Whewell • William Wollaston • more ... This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.