Titus Flavius Boethus (died 168) was a
Roman senator, who was active during the reign of
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...
. He is known as being an acquaintance of the physician
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (; September 129 – AD), often Anglicization, anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Ancient Rome, Roman and Greeks, Greek physician, surgeon, and Philosophy, philosopher. Considered to be one o ...
. Boethus was
suffect consul in one of the ''
nundinia'' falling in the later half of 161 with
JuliusGeminus Capellianus as his colleague.
Boethus had his family origins in
Ptolemais in
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. His name suggests he is descended from a man whom either the emperor
Vespasian or a relative of his gave the Roman citizenship to, but there is no record of any
Flavian being governor of Syria. Otherwise there is no known relationship, familial or otherwise, between Boethus and the emperor.
Life
At some point after Galen arrived in Rome in 162, he became the doctor for Boethus' wife and son, and thus became acquainted with the consul. Boethus encouraged Galen to offer public lectures on anatomy, which Galen offered over a three-year period.
G.W. Bowersock notes that these lectures were "very much to the taste of the people of that time", and includes in Galen's audience such prominent Senators as
Marcus Vettulenus Civica Barbarus consul in 157,
Lucius Sergius Paullus consul II in 168, and
Gnaeus Claudius Severus consul II in 173.
Boethus was appointed governor of the imperial province of
Syria Palaestina for the usual term of three years starting around 166. Before he departed, he obtained medical advice to follow while in that eastern province. Despite his advice, Boethus died while governor in 168.
[Alföldy, ''Konsulat und Senatorenstand'', pp. 241, 195]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flavius Boethus, Titus
1st-century Romans
Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome
Roman governors of Syria
Boethus, Titus
168 deaths
Year of birth unknown