born 0441; 4 BC, Corduba, Spain
died AD 65, Rome
Roman philosopher, statesman, and playwright.
He was trained as an orator and began a career in politics and law in Rome 0441; AD 31. While banished to Corsica for adultery (4149), he wrote the philosophical treatises Consolationes . He later became tutor to the future emperor Nero and from 54 to 62 was a leading intellectual figure in Rome. An adherent of Stoicism , he wrote other philosophical works, including Moral Letters , a collection of essays on moral problems. He also left a series of verse tragedies marked by violence and bloodshed, including Thyestes , Hercules , and Medea . His plays influenced the development of Elizabethan drama during the Renaissance, notably William Shakespeare 's Titus Andronicus (159394) and John Webster 's The Duchess of Malfi ( 0441; 1613).
Seneca, marble bust, 3rd century, after an original bust of the 1st century; in the Staatliche ...
By courtesy of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany