Nar. Manlius Boethius (died ''circa'' 487) was a Roman and Italian aristocrat, who was appointed

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

for 487. He was likely the father of the Roman philosopher,

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...

Life

He was probably the son of Boethius, the praetorian prefect of Italy, who was put to death by Emperor

Valentinian III Valentinian III (; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the Western Roman Empire, West from 425 to 455. Starting in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by civil wars among powerful general ...

in 454, and probably the father of the famous philosopher

; if this identification is correct, he died not long after 487, for Boethius is known to have been orphaned as a young boy and adopted by the aristocrat Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus. Boethius' career can be derived from a consular diptych preserved in

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

. He was '' praefectus urbi'' of Rome (date unknown), then Praetorian prefect of Italy at some point between 480 and 487, when he was appointed consul (not recognised in the East), ''praefectus urbi'' for the second time and ''patricius''. This diptych records his second name abbreviated NAR. E. Weigand explained this abbreviation to mean . Although Nonius is a common name under the early Empire, Alan Cameron has pointed out the combination "Nonius Arrius" has been attested only twice in the 300 years prior to Boethius. He further notes the abbreviation "N. Ar." is unattested except for this consular diptych. Based on these considerations, he believes this explanation is untenable, and proposes NAR should be read as an abbreviation for one of two names: either "Narius", "a securely if sparsely attested Italian name"; or as an engraving error for MAR, an abbreviation for "Marius", a far more common name.Alan Cameron
"Boethius' Father's Name"
'' Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'', 44 (1981), pp. 181-183

Life

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