The Consolation of Philosophy Characters

The protagonist of The Consolation of Philosophy is a slightly-fictionalized version of the author. Born in 477 C.E. just after the fall of the Roman Empire, Boethius was a philosopher who came to be seen… read analysis of Boethius

Boethius’s “awe-inspiring” interlocutor in The Consolation of Philosophy is a benevolent female teacher, part human and part divine, who embodies the wisdom of Ancient Greek thinkers like Plato and Aristotle. Philosophy leads Boethius… read analysis of Lady Philosophy

The eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, and absolutely benevolent creator of the universe, whom Boethius and Philosophy praise, pray to, and profile in detail throughout the Consolation, particularly in Books IV and V. Although the book… read analysis of God

A group of nine goddesses who, in the tradition of Ancient Greece, inspired people to create art. Boethius wrestles with the Muses at the very beginning of the Consolation, as he struggles to write… read analysis of The Muses

Along with his student Aristotle, one of the two central philosophers of Ancient Greece. In many ways considered the principal founder of European philosophy, Plato’s approximately 30 works mostly take the form of philosophical… read analysis of Plato

Considered one of the two principal Ancient Greek philosophers, alongside his teacher Plato. Throughout his life, Boethius’s primary scholarly project was the interpretation and translation of Aristotle, whose ideas deeply influence the arguments… read analysis of Aristotle

A Greek philosopher who lived in the 5th century B.C.E. and is best known for formulating a series of paradoxes. The most famous is the classic puzzle about how anything can reach its destination if… read analysis of Zeno

The protagonist of Ancient Greek poet Homer’s legendary Odyssey, the second-oldest surviving work of European literature (after Homer’s Iliad). The Odyssey recounts Odysseus’s circuitous, 10-year journey home to the city of Ithaca after… read analysis of Odysseus

The notoriously corrupt and tyrannical emperor of Rome from 37-68 C.E., who allegedly set Rome ablaze and used the ensuing catastrophe to justify persecuting, torturing, and killing Christians. Philosophy uses Nero’s “frenzied lunacy” as an… read analysis of Nero