Seneca Tragedy: Models, Motivations, Mea

This seminar aims to introduce students to the range and complexity of the tragedies composed by the eminent philosopher-politician, Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 2 BCE-65 CE). The course will combine intensive linguistic analysis of individual dramas with a focus on their political, philosophical and cultural meanings in the 1st century CE. Beyond our shared study of these highly allusive texts, a main goal will be to demonstrate that Seneca does not just write within a received tradition, but also uses remarkable artistic strategies by which to give new life to that tradition.