What Roman philospher does Arturus refer to in King Arthur? Is he real?

July 20, 2004 9:08 AM

So I've just seen King Arthur (the one in theatres now) — and for the record, it was a fun flick... nothing to write home about, mind you, but fun all the same.

Anyway, Arturus refers to and quotes a Roman philosopher (his name starts with "P") several times... so here's my question: what was the philosopher's name, and was he a real person?
posted by silusGROK to Religion & Philosophy (7 answers total)

I haven't seen the movie, but I betcha they refer to Pliny the elder, who was a historian (or encyclopedist) not a philosopher.
posted by funkbrain at 10:29 AM on July 20, 2004

Response by poster: Sorry, funkbrain, it wasn't Pliny... I would have remembered Pliny (and IIRC the name had more syllables).

Thanks, though.
posted by silusGROK at 11:09 AM on July 20, 2004

The reference was Palagius, and a quick Google skim seems to indicate he was a real person.
posted by Zosia Blue at 11:53 AM on July 20, 2004

Yep, real person, notable mainly for his semi-rejection of the notion of original sin and generally pissing off Augustinians. Not, as far as I know, all that interested in universal human rights or equality.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 12:11 PM on July 20, 2004

Response by poster: Thanks everyone!

From that name, I found this interesting wikipedia article on Pelagius.
posted by silusGROK at 1:37 PM on July 20, 2004

The film was wrote by the guy that did Gladiator, so he knows his stuff, as such things go in screenwriter-land.

I pretty much didn't care for the film, mostly because of the mind-numbingly pointless battle scenes. And other reasons.
posted by mwhybark at 3:55 PM on July 20, 2004

> Arturus

Do they call him Arturus in the movie? The nearest thing we have to a historical reference to Arthur (Nennius, Historia Brittonum) calls him Artorius.
posted by jfuller at 6:12 AM on July 21, 2004