Read complete books and articles on: Seneca

Seneca - the younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca), c.3 b.c.–a.d. 65, Roman philosopher, dramatist, and statesman, b. Corduba (present-day Córdoba), Spain. He was the son of Seneca the elder. The younger Seneca went to Rome in his childhood, studied rhetoric and philosophy, and earned renown as an orator when still a youth. He was exiled by Claudius (a.d. 41) ostensibly because of his intimacy with Julia, Claudius' brother Germanicus' daughter. In a.d. 49 he was recalled at the urgings of Agrippina the Younger to become tutor of the young Nero. In the first years of Nero's reign Seneca was virtual ruler with Afranius Burrus, and their influence on the emperor was probably for the best. But the ascendancy of Poppaea, Nero's wife, brought about first the death of Agrippina (a.d. 59), then that of Burrus (a.d. 62). Seneca asked to retire. He had amassed a huge fortune and wanted no more of court life. Accusations of conspiracy were finally leveled at Seneca, who, instructed to commit suicide, slashed his veins. His death scene was considered remarkably noble by the Romans. Seneca was a Stoic, and his writings show a high, unselfish nobility considerably at variance with his own life, in which greed, expediency, and even connivance at murder figured. His Epistolae morales ad Lucilium are essays on ethics written for his friend Lucilius Junior, to whom he also addressed Quaestiones naturales, philosophical—rather than scientific—remarks about natural phenomena. The so-called Dialogi of Seneca include essays on anger, on divine providence, on Stoic impassivity, and on peace of soul. Other moral essays have also survived, notably De elementia, on the duty of a ruler to be merciful, and De beneficiis, on the award and reception of favors. The Apocolocyntosis is a satire on the apotheosis of Claudius. The most influential of his works, at least in so far as European literature is concerned, were his tragedies. It is generally agreed that his plays were written for recitation and not for stage performance. Nine plays, based on Greek models, are accepted as his—Hercules Furens, Medea, Troades, Phaedra, Agamemnon, Oedipus, Hercules Oetaeus, Phoenissae, and Thyestes. A tenth, Octavia, is now ascribed to a later imitator. Although his drama has been deprecated in modern times, no author had a stronger influence on Renaissance tragedy than did Seneca. His atmosphere of gloom, his horrors, his rhetoric and bombast, his stoicism, were all essential contributions to the forming of Renaissance tragedy. The most significant play influenced by Seneca was Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy.

See studies by M. D. Griffin (1976), V. Sorenson (tr. 1984), and D. and E. Henry (1985).

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12 of the Best Books and Articles on: Seneca

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Seneca: A Philosopher in Politics » Read Now
by Miriam T. Griffin. 524 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
2.

Seneca the Philosopher, and His Modern Message » Read Now
by Richard Mott Gummere. 150 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library
3.

The Tragedies of Seneca » Read Now
by Seneca, Frank Justus Miller. 534 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library
4.

Octavia: A Play Attributed to Seneca » Read Now
by Seneca, Rolando Ferri. 471 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

The historical tragedy Octavia focuses on Nero's divorce from the princess Octavia, Claudius' daughter by Valeria Messalina, and on the emperor's subsequent marriage to Poppaea Sabina. This book includes a full-length introduction, a new edition of the text based on a fresh examination of the...
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The historical tragedy Octavia focuses on Nero's divorce from the princess Octavia, Claudius' daughter by Valeria Messalina, and on the emperor's subsequent marriage to Poppaea Sabina. This book includes a full-length introduction, a new edition of the text based on a fresh examination of the manuscripts, and a detailed commentary dealing with textual, linguistic, and literary points. Spanning three days in June AD 62, the tragic action of the play ends with Octavia's deportation to the island of Pandateria, where she would be executed shortly afterwards.
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5.

Tragic Seneca: An Essay in the Theatrical Tradition » Read Now
by A. J. Boyle. 262 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

Tragic Seneca undertakes a radical re-evaluation of Seneca's plays, their relationship to Roman imperial culture and their instrumental role in the evolution of the European theatrical tradition.Following an introduction on the history of the Roman theatre, the book provides a dramatic and cultural...
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Tragic Seneca undertakes a radical re-evaluation of Seneca's plays, their relationship to Roman imperial culture and their instrumental role in the evolution of the European theatrical tradition.Following an introduction on the history of the Roman theatre, the book provides a dramatic and cultural critique of the whole of Seneca's corpus, analysing the declamatory form of the plays, their rhetoric, interiority, stagecraft and spectacle, dramatic, ideological and moral structure and their overt theatricality. Each of Seneca's plays is examined in detail, locating the force of Senecan drama not only in the moral complexity of the texts and their representations of power, violence, history, suffering and the self, but the semiotic interplay of text, tradition and culture.The later chapters focus on Seneca's influence on Italian, English and French drama of the Renaissance. A.J. Boyle argues that tragedians such as Cinthio, Kyd, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Webster, Corneille, and Racine owe a debt to Seneca that goes beyond allusion, dramatic form and the treatment of tyranny and revenge to the development of the tragic sensibility and the metatheatrical mind. Tragic Seneca attempts to restore Seneca to a central position in the European literary tradition. It will provide readers and directors of Seneca's plays with the essential critical guide to their intellectual, cultural and dramatic complexity.
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6.

Constructing Autocracy: Aristocrats and Emperors in Julio-Claudian Rome (Chap. Two "Ethics for the Principate: Seneca, Stoicism, and Traditional Roman Morality") » Read Now
by Matthew B. Roller. 319 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Rome's transition from a republican system of government to an imperial regime comprised more than a century of civil upheaval and rapid institutional change. Yet the establishment of a ruling dynasty, centered around a single leader, came as a cultural and political shock to Rome's aristocracy, who...
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Rome's transition from a republican system of government to an imperial regime comprised more than a century of civil upheaval and rapid institutional change. Yet the establishment of a ruling dynasty, centered around a single leader, came as a cultural and political shock to Rome's aristocracy, who had shared power in the previous political order. How did the imperial regime manage to establish itself and how did the Roman elites from the time of Julius Caesar to Nero make sense of it? In this compelling book, Matthew Roller reveals a "dialogical" process at work, in which writers and philosophers vigorously negotiated and contested the nature and scope of the emperor's authority, despite the consensus that he was the ultimate authority figure in Roman society.Roller seeks evidence for this "thinking out" of the new order in a wide range of republican and imperial authors, with an emphasis on Lucan and Seneca the Younger. He shows how elites assessed the impact of the imperial system on traditional aristocratic ethics and examines how several longstanding authority relationships in Roman society--those of master to slave, father to son, and gift-creditor to gift-debtor--became competing models for how the emperor did or should relate to his aristocratic subjects. By revealing this ideological activity to be not merely reactive but also constitutive of the new order, Roller contributes to ongoing debates about the character of the Roman imperial system and about the "politics" of literature.
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7.

The Roman Philosophers: From the Time of Cato the Censor to the Death of Marcus Aurelius (Chap. 6 "Seneca and His Contemporaries") » Read Now
by Mark Morford. 292 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

The philosophers of the Roman world were asking questions whose answers had practical effects on people's lives in antiquity, and which still influence our thinking to this day. In spite of being neglected in the modern era, this important age of philosophical thought is now undergoing a revival of...
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The philosophers of the Roman world were asking questions whose answers had practical effects on people's lives in antiquity, and which still influence our thinking to this day. In spite of being neglected in the modern era, this important age of philosophical thought is now undergoing a revival of interest.Mark Morford's lively survey makes these recent scholarly developments accessible to a wide audience, examining the writings and ideas of both famous and lesser known figures - from Cato the Censor in 155 BCE to Marcus Aurelius in 180 CE. Based around extensive and fully translated quotations from the philosophical texts of the era, full consideration is given throughout to historical, political and cultural context.
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8.

A Literary History of Rome: From the Origins to the Close of the Golden Age (Chap. III "Seneca the Philosopher: Miscellaneous Learning") » Read Now
by J. Wight Duff. 674 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library
9.

Roman Drama (Chap. V "Shakespeare, Seneca, and the Kingdom of Violence") » Read Now
by Walter R. Chalmers, C. D. N. Costa, T. A. Dorey, Donald R. Dudley, John Arthur Hanson, Gareth Lloyd-Evans, Andre Steegman, T. B. L. Webster, T. L. Zinn. 229 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library
10.

Fifty Key Classical Authors ("Seneca the Younger" begins on p. 299) » Read Now
by Rhiannon Ash, Alison Sharrock. 421 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

A chronological guide to influential Greek and Roman writers, Fifty Key Classical Authors is an invaluable introduction to the literature, philosophy and history of the ancient world. Including essays on Sappho, Polybius and Lucan, as well as on major figures such as Homer, Plato, Catullus and...
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A chronological guide to influential Greek and Roman writers, Fifty Key Classical Authors is an invaluable introduction to the literature, philosophy and history of the ancient world. Including essays on Sappho, Polybius and Lucan, as well as on major figures such as Homer, Plato, Catullus and Cicero, this book is a vital tool for all students of classical civilization.
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11.

Roman Eloquence: Rhetoric in Society and Literature (Chap. 4 "The Style Is the Man: Seneca, Tacitus, and Quintilian's Canon") » Read Now
by William J. Dominik. 268 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

Rhetoric is once again becoming valued as an essential element in the exploration of the ancient world. The present volume is part of a general renaissance in the study of rhetoric and bears testimony to a discipline undergoing rapid and exciting change. It draws together established and newer...
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Rhetoric is once again becoming valued as an essential element in the exploration of the ancient world. The present volume is part of a general renaissance in the study of rhetoric and bears testimony to a discipline undergoing rapid and exciting change. It draws together established and newer scholars in the field to produce a probing and innovative analysis of the role played by rhetoric in Roman culture. Utilizing a variety of critical approaches and methodologies, these scholars examine not only the role of rhetoric in Roman society but also the relationship between rhetoric and Rome's major literary genres. Roman Eloquence emphasises the theory and practice of rhetoric in a variety of social, political and literary contexts. In addition to demonstrating rhetoric's critical significance for Roman culture, the studies reveal the important role played by rhetoric in the formation of the various genres of literature. This accessible and critically up-to-date volume will be of interest to Classicists, literary theorists and anyone concerned with the origins, development and influence of Roman rhetorical theory and practice.
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12.

Ambitiosa Mors: Suicide and the Self in Roman Thought and Literature (Chap. 7 "Seneca") » Read Now
by Timothy Hill. 335 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Psychology, Entire Library

T.D. Hill traces the cultural logic which dictated the attitude to suicide amongst the Roman nobility. He describes the meaning & significance of often bizarre suicides in the contexts of their time & place, arguing that the significance of the 'noble death' cannot be understood in the context of modern ideas.