480?-525?

Roman mathematician and philosopher who translated many Greek texts into Latin in large encyclopedic collections. These collections were almost all that survived of ancient Greek learning in Europe until Arabic sources were eventually translated into Latin centuries later. Boethius helped define the divisions in education (the trivium and quadrivium) that were to last throughout the medieval period. A Roman aristocrat who probably studied in Alexandria or Athens, he was condemned to death after becoming embroiled in court politics.