Lucius annaeus seneca biography

When Nero became Emperor, Seneca was unofficially appointed as chief minister. The Emperor requested that Seneca commit suicide. Seneca complied. Seneca wrote numerous essays, many of which are still read today, and at least nine plays: ThyestesHercules FurensHercules OetaeusOedipusMedeaAgamemnonTroadesPhoenissaeand Phaedra. Stoicism was a popular philosophy in this period, and many upper-class Romans found in it a guiding ethical framework for political involvement.

Lucius annaeus seneca biography: Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher, statesman,

It was once popular to regard Seneca as being very eclectic in his Stoicism, but modern scholarship views him as a fairly orthodox Stoic, albeit a free-minded one. His works discuss both ethical theory and practical advice, and Seneca stresses that both parts are distinct but interdependent. Seneca regards philosophy as a balm for the wounds of life.

The destructive passions, especially anger and grief, must be uprooted, or moderated according to reason. He discusses the relative merits of the contemplative life and the active life, and he considers it important to confront one's own mortality and be able to face death. One must be willing to practice poverty and use wealth properly, and he writes about favours, clemency, the importance of friendship, and the need to benefit others.

The universe is governed for the best by a rational providence, and this must be reconciled with acceptance of adversity. Drama Ten plays are attributed to Seneca, of which most likely eight were written by him. The plays stand in stark contrast to his philosophical works. With their intense emotions, and grim overall tone, the plays seem to represent the antithesis of Seneca's Stoic beliefs.

Up to the 16th century it was normal to distinguish between Seneca the moral philosopher and Seneca the dramatist as two separate people. Scholars have tried to spot certain Stoic themes: it is the uncontrolled passions that generate madness, ruination, and self-destruction. This has a cosmic as well as an ethical aspect, and fate is a powerful, albeit rather oppressive, force.

Many scholars have thought, following the ideas of the 19th-century German scholar Friedrich Leo, that Seneca's tragedies were written for recitation only.

Lucius annaeus seneca biography: 1. Life and Works. Lucius Annaeus

Other scholars think that they were written for performance and that it is possible that actual performance took place in Seneca's lifetime. Ultimately, this issue cannot be resolved on the basis of our existing knowledge. The tragedies of Seneca have been successfully staged in modern times. The dating of the tragedies is highly problematic in the absence of any ancient references.

A parody of a lament from Hercules Furens appears in the Apocolocyntosis, which implies a date before 54 AD for that play. A relative chronology has been proposed on metrical grounds. The plays are not all based on the Greek pattern; they have a five-act form and differ in many respects from extant Attic drama, and while the influence of Euripides on some of these works is considerable, so is the influence of Virgil and Ovid.

Seneca's plays were widely read in medieval and Renaissance European universities and strongly influenced tragic drama in that time, such as Elizabethan England William Shakespeare and other playwrightsFrance Corneille and Racineand the Netherlands Joost van den Vondel. English translations of Seneca's tragedies appeared in print in the midth century, with all ten published collectively in He is regarded as the source and inspiration for what is known as "Revenge Tragedy", starting with Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy and continuing well into the Jacobean era.

Thyestes is considered Seneca's masterpiece, and has been described by scholar Dana Gioia as "one of the most influential plays ever written". Medea is also highly regarded, and was praised along with Phaedra by T. Works Works attributed to Seneca include a dozen philosophical essays, one hundred and twenty-four letters dealing with moral issues, nine tragedies, and a satire, the attribution of which is disputed.

His authorship of Hercules on Oeta has also been questioned. Fabula praetexta tragedy in Roman setting : Octavia: almost certainly not written by Seneca at least in its final form since it contains accurate prophecies of both his and Nero's deaths. This play closely resembles Seneca's plays in style, but was probably written some time after Seneca's death perhaps under Vespasian by someone influenced by Seneca and aware of the events of his lifetime.

Though attributed textually to Seneca, the attribution was early questioned by Petrarch, and rejected by Justus Lipsius. Other essays 56 De Clementia On Clemency — written to Nero on the need for clemency as a virtue in an emperor. Letters 64 Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium — collection of letters, sometimes divided into 20 books, dealing with moral issues written to Lucilius Junior.

Lucius annaeus seneca biography: Lucius Annaeus Seneca the

This work has possibly come down to us incomplete; the miscellanist Aulus Gellius refers, in his Noctes Atticae Cujus etiam ad Paulum apostolum leguntur epistolae: These letters, allegedly between Seneca and St Paul, were revered by early authorities, but modern scholarship rejects their authenticity. Their unknown authors are collectively called "Pseudo-Seneca.

Early manuscripts preserve Martin's preface, where he makes it clear that this was his adaptation, but in later copies this was omitted, and the work was later thought fully Seneca's work. Seneca is also often quoted as the author of the aphorism: "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful"; this is based on a translation by Edward Gibbon, but is disputed.

Editions Naturales quaestiones in Latin. Venezia: eredi Aldo Manuzio 1. Legacy As a proto-Christian saint Seneca's writings were well known in the later Roman period, and Quintilian, writing thirty years after Seneca's death, remarked on the popularity of his works amongst the youth. While he found much to admire, Quintillian criticized Seneca for what he regarded as a degenerate literary style—a criticism echoed by Aulus Gellius in the middle of the 2nd century.

The early Christian Church was very favourably disposed towards Seneca and his writings, and the church leader Tertullian possessively referred to him as "our Seneca". By the 4th century an apocryphal correspondence with Paul the Apostle had been created linking Seneca into the Christian tradition. The letters are mentioned by Jerome who also included Seneca among a list of Christian writers, and Seneca is similarly mentioned by Augustine.

In the 6th century Martin of Braga synthesized Seneca's thought into a couple of treatises that became popular in their own right. Otherwise, Seneca was mainly known through a large number of quotes and extracts in the florilegia, which were popular throughout the medieval period. When his writings were read in the later Middle Ages, it was mostly his Letters to Lucilius—the longer essays and plays being relatively unknown.

Medieval writers and works continued to link him to Christianity because of his alleged association with Paul. The Golden Legend, a 13th-century hagiographical account of famous saints that was widely read, included an account of Seneca's death scene, and erroneously presented Nero as a witness to Seneca's suicide. Boccaccio, who in came across the works of Tacitus whilst browsing the library at Montecassino, wrote an account of Seneca's suicide hinting that it was a kind of disguised baptism, or a de facto baptism in spirit.

Some, such as Albertino Mussato and Giovanni Colonna, went even further and concluded that Seneca must have been a Christian convert. VIII, pp. Seneca: A Philosopher in PoliticsOxford Digest Tacitus: The Annals of Imperial Rome. Stoic Philosophy of Seneca. In Smith, William ed. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Harrison ed. London: Routledge, His Tenne Tragedies. Thomas Newton, ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,p. Masterpieces of World Literature. JHU Press. Brill's Companion to Seneca: Philosopher and Dramatist. Aesthetic Value in Classical Antiquity. Allyn and Bacon. Retrieved 26 July The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca History, Medicine, and the Traditions of Renaissance Learning.

University of Michigan Press. The Therapy of Desire. Gratitude in the History of Ideas19—37 in M. Emmons and M. In Slavitt, David R. Seneca: The Tragedies. Nero, Part II. From the death of Burrus to the death of Seneca, comprising the lucius annaeus seneca biography of Piso. George Bell and Sons. Rome, season one: History makes television.

Chariot of the Soul. Oxford: Godstow Press. OCLC The Hollywood Reporter. References [ edit ]. Further reading [ edit ]. External links [ edit ]. Wikisource has original works by or about: Seneca. Wikiquote has quotations related to Seneca the Younger. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Library resources about Seneca the Younger.

Online books Resources in your library Resources in other libraries. While still young he received philosophical training from Attalus the Stoic. As a writer, Seneca is known for his philosophical works, and for his plays, which are all tragedies. Seneca regards philosophy as a balm for the wounds of life. The destructive passions, especially anger and grief, must be uprooted, although sometimes he offers advice for moderating them according to reason.

Seneca was also a dramatist.