Phaedra and Other Plays

by Unknown

• ISBN13: 9780140455519
• ISBN10: 0140455515
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-10-25
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

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#x19;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.

Author Biography

Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD) is widely considered one of the greatest Classical dramatists.
R. Scott Smith is associate professor of classics at the University of New Hampshire.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vii
Introduction	p. ix
Selected Further Reading	p. xxvii
A Note on the Translation	p. xxix
Preface to Hercules Insane	p. 3
Hercules Insane
Preface to Trojan Women	p. 55
Trojan Women
Preface to Phaedra	p. 103
Phaedra
Preface to Oedipus	p. 151
Oedipus
Preface to Thyestes	p. 197
Thyestes
Preface to Octavia	p. 241
Octavia
Notes	p. 281
Glossary	p. 306
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