Book description
Living in Rome under Caligula and later a tutor to Nero, Seneca
witnessed the extremes of human behaviour. His shocking and bloodthirsty
plays not only reflect a brutal period of history but also show how
guilt, sorrow, anger and desire lead individuals to violence. The hero
of
Hercules Insane
saves his own family from slaughter, only to commit further atrocities
when he goes mad. The horrifying death of Astyanax is recounted in
Trojan Women
, and Phaedra
deals with forbidden love. In Oedipus
a nervous man discovers himself, while Thyestes
recounts the bitter family struggle for a crown. Of uncertain
authorship, Octavia
dramatizes Nero's divorce from his wife and her deportation. The only
Latin tragedies to have survived complete, these plays are masterpieces
of vibrant, muscular language and psychological insight.
Lucius
Annaeus Seneca statesman, philosopher, advocate and man of letters,
was born at Cordoba in Spain around 4 BC. He rose to prominence in
Rome, pursuing a career in the courts and political life while also
acquiring celebrity as an author of tragedies and essays. After
retiring from public life, he devoted his last three years to
philosophy and writing. Following the discovery of a plot
against the emperor, in which he was thought to be implicated, he and
many others were compelled by Nero to commit suicide in AD 65.
R. Scott Smith is Associate Professor of Classics at the University
of New Hampshire. His books include An Anthology of Classical Myth
(as co-editor and translator) and The Unknown Socrates (as
co-editor and contributor).
