Seneca: Phaedra

by Lucius Annaeus Seneca , Edited by Michael Coffey , Roland Mayer

• ISBN13: 9780521337137
• ISBN10: 0521337135
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1990-02-23
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Seneca's Phaedra occupies an important and influential position in the tradition of European drama. This new edition concentrates on the dramatic qualities of Phaedra and examines the Greek and Roman background to the play, particularly Seneca's use of Euripides and Ovid, and its philosophical elements grounded in Seneca's Stoicism. The introduction also discusses dramatic and rhetorical presentation, aspects of style including imagery and the transmission of the text. An unusual feature is the treatment of the influence of the Phaedra story in later European literature and music. The commentary examines Seneca's language in detail and looks at his use of earlier poetic models (Virgil and Ovid) as well as plot, characterisation and his use of myth. Although principally for students of Latin literature, this new edition will also be of interest to historians of drama and comparative literature.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Abbreviations	ix
Introduction	1	(1)
The life of Seneca	1	(2)
The dating of Seneca's tragedies	3	(2)
The background of the myth	5	(5)
Roman literary influences	10	(5)
Dramatic performances	15	(3)
Rhetorical elements	18	(2)
Aspects of literary craftsmanship	20	(5)
Literary and philosophical interpretation	25	(5)
The manuscripts and the transmission of the text	30	(3)
The influence of Seneca's tragedies and of the Phaedra myth	33	(8)
Metre and prosody	41	(4)
L. ANNAEI SENECAE PHAEDRA	45	(164)
Commentary	88	(109)
Appendices	197	(12)
1. Borrowings	197	(7)
2. P. Ovidi Nasonis Heroidum Epistula IV	204	(5)
Bibliography	209	(6)
Indexes	215