Flavius Messius Phoebus Severus (floruit 469-470) was a Roman politician and philosopher.

Biography

Born in Rome, he studied at the school of the platonic philosopher Proclus

Proclus

Proclus Lycaeus , called "The Successor" or "Diadochos" , was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers . He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism...

, in Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

; among the other students there were the Pagan poet Pamprepius

Pamprepius

Pamprepius was a philosopher and a Pagan poet who rebelled against the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno....

 (who was instrumental in the revolt of Illus

Illus

Illus was a Byzantine general, who played an important role in the reigns of the Byzantine Emperors Zeno and Basiliscus.Illus supported the revolt of Basiliscus against Zeno, then switched sides, supporting the return of Zeno...

), the military officer Marcellinus

Marcellinus (magister militum)

Marcellinus was a Roman general and patrician who ruled over the region of Dalmatia in the Western Roman Empire and held sway with the army there from 454 until his death.-Origins:...

 (later semi-autonomous commander in Illyricum), the noble Anthemius

Anthemius

Procopius Anthemius was Western Roman Emperor from 467 to 472. Perhaps the last capable Western Roman Emperor, Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: the resurgent Visigoths, under Euric, whose domain straddled the Pyrenees;...

 (Consul and Western Roman Emperor), and Illustrius Pusaeus

Illustrius Pusaeus

Flavius Illustrius Pusaeus was a politician of the Roman Empire.- Biography :Pusaeus was a pupil of the Neoplatonist philosopher Proclus, at his school in Alexandria; other noteworthy figures belonged to the same Pagan circle and studied with Pusaeus, such as Pamprepius , Marcellinus Flavius...

 (Praetorian prefect of the East in 465 and Consul in 467). During this period, a pause in his career after he had become disillusioned with public life, he received the visit of some brahmins and of other scholars who were interested in his rich library.

In 467/469 Severus returned to Rome, where the Western Emperor Anthemius elevated him to the honour of the consulate in the year 470, as well as gave him the rank of Patricius and the office of Praefectus urbi

Praefectus urbi

The praefectus urbanus or praefectus urbi, in English the urban prefect, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and held high importance in late Antiquity...

. According to Damascius

Damascius

Damascius , known as "the last of the Neoplatonists," was the last scholarch of the School of Athens. He was one of the pagan philosophers persecuted by Justinian in the early 6th century, and was forced for a time to seek refuge in the Persian court, before being allowed back into the empire...

, Severus and Anthemius had a secret plan to restore the Pagan cults. During his office, he restored parts of the Colosseum

Colosseum

The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...

.