Thinkers Timeline

Boethius was a Roman scholar and statesman who lived during the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. His full name was Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius. He is sometimes called 'the last of the Romans and the first of the Scholastics'. He was born around 480 CE in Rome, into a noble Christian family. He died in 524 CE, executed by King Theodoric the Ostrogoth on charges of treason. The western Roman Empire had fallen in 476 CE, four years before Boethius was born. Italy was now ruled by the Ostrogoths, a Germanic people. King Theodoric ran the country, but he respected Roman traditions and employed Roman officials. Boethius came from one of the leading senatorial families. His father had been consul. Boethius himself became consul in 510, then magister officiorum (a senior court position) under Theodoric. He was a serious scholar as well as a politician. He set himself an enormous project: to translate all of Plato and Aristotle into Latin and to show that the two philosophers ultimately agreed. He never finished. He completed important translations of Aristotle's works on logic, with extensive commentaries. These translations were the only direct access most of medieval Europe had to Aristotle for over 600 years. He also wrote original works on music, mathematics, and theology. In 523, Boethius was accused of treason. The charges involved his defence of a senator and possibly secret communication with the Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople. Boethius denied wrongdoing. Theodoric, perhaps growing suspicious of his Christian Roman elite, had him imprisoned. While in prison awaiting execution, Boethius wrote his most famous book, the Consolation of Philosophy. He was executed in 524 by being beaten or strangled. He was about 44.