Seneca's Complete Tragedies: Agamemnon, Hercules, Hercules Oetaeus I & II, Medea, Oedipus, Phaedra, Phoenissae, Thyestes, and Troades

by Seneca, Frank Miller (Translator)

This beautifully formatted complete collection of Seneca’s tragedies contains an Active Table of Contents for easy maneuverability throughout the eBook.

This complete collection contains the following plays scholars have ascribed to Seneca: Agamemnon, Hercules, Hercules Oetaeus I & II, Medea, Oedipus, Phaedra, Phoenissae, Thyestes, and Troades.

Although many of the Senecan tragedies adapt the same Greek myths as tragedies by Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides, scholars tend not to view Seneca's works as direct adaptations of the Attic works, as Seneca's approach to the myths differs significantly from the Greek poets and often contains themes familiar from his philosophical writings. It is possible that Seneca's tragic style was more directly influenced by Augustan literature.

French neoclassical dramatic tradition, which reached its highest expression in the 17th-century tragedies of Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine, drew on Seneca for form and grandeur of style. These neoclassicists adopted Seneca's innovation of the confidant (usually a servant), his substitution of speech for action, and his moral hairsplitting.

The Elizabethan dramatists found Seneca's themes of bloodthirsty revenge more congenial to English taste than they did his form. The first English tragedy, Gorboduc (1561), by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton, is a chain of slaughter and revenge written in direct imitation of Seneca. (As it happens, Gorboduc does follow the form as well as the subject matter of Senecan tragedy: but only a very few other English plays—e.g. The Misfortunes of Arthur—followed its lead in this.) Senecan influence is also evident in Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, and in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and Hamlet. All three share a revenge theme, a corpse-strewn climax, and The Spanish Tragedy and Hamlet also have ghosts among the cast; all of these elements can be traced back to the Senecan model.

Genres: Classics, Theatre, Fiction, Drama

510 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 64

About the author

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca or Seneca the Younger); ca. 4 BC – 65 AD) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero, who later forced him to commit suicide for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to have him assassinated.

Reviews

[María A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Sólo he leído Medea*
Como persona absolutamente obsesionada con Medea -Eurípides desde bachillerato, debo decir que no esperaba que la versión de Séneca fuera así. Se centra más en la venganza y deshace la caracterización del personaje de Medea para volverla un ser agresivo y temperamental, alejada de la Medea original, también combativa con sus propios sentimientos y culpabilidad. Aún así es mucho más dramática y centrada más en el asesinato de Pelias que en la infidelidad de Jasón, lo que me hace ver que es una reescritura alejada del propósito inicial de Eurípides.

[ouliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

now i'm ready to go back to uni and talk to my professor about antique tragedies

[Carolina Búho · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pesar de todo, me gustaron mucho las tragedias de Séneca, me gustaron los motivos y temas que se repetían en cada tragedia pero con diferente enfoque y, sobre todo, me encantó lo trágico que es todo y cómo los personajes son muchísimo más intensos que sus contrapartes griegas.
Mis tragedias favoritas fueron Las troyanas, Medea, Edipo y Tiestes ♥ (ésa fue la que más me gustó porque nunca había leído ningún tratamiento de ese mito).
Ahora bien, en cuanto a la edición: tanto la introducción general como las pequeñas introducciones antes de cada tragedia me parecieron muy buenas, puesto que aclaran las versiones de los mitos, los tratamientos, los metros, el momento histórico de su escritura y muchas más cosas relevantes e interesantes para la gente que estuviera interesada en ellas. Creo que aprendí más con este libro que con mis dos semestres de Historia de Roma. Also, antes de cada tragedia hay un pequeño resumen de la obra y aiñs ♥ Lo único de lo que me quejo es que encontré varios errores en las notas a pie de página, como una que dice que Apolo y Diana eran hijos de Júpiter y Leda (!), ah, sí, también en alguna introducción leí la palabra "embegadura" (!!). Obviando estos pequeños pero importantes detalles, la edición de Cátedra es muy bonita y vale bastante la pena (como todas sus ediciones).
Ahora, mi puntuación a cada tragedia:
Hércules: 3/5
Las troyanas: 4/5
Las fenicias: 2.5/5
Medea: 4/5
Fedra: 4/5
Edipo: 4/5
Agamenón: 3/5
Tiestes: 5/5
Hércules en Eta: 2/5
Octavia: 3/5

[Valérie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enfin terminé mdrr après quelques années mais c'est fait 👉👉
Le style de Seneque est particulier, je n'ai pas trop apprécié le fait que le chœur soit réduit à raconter le lore général à la fin de chaque acte (qui souvent n'a rien à voir avec le mythe en cours), aussi il est clairement plus brutal que les autres tragiques ?? Je pense notamment à la mort d'Agamemnon chez Eschyle (baignoire) vs ici où il est décapité à moitié 💀

J'ai bien aimé mais clairement c'est pas mes versions prefs des mythes grecs :
Œdipe 3/5 (version médiocre un peu)
Les Phéniciennes 4-/5 (intéressant)
Les Phéniciennes II 2/5 (nul à chier)
Médée 4+/5 (meilleure version ?)
Hercule Furieux 4-/5 (incroyable)
Phèdre 2-/5 (clairement inférieure aux autres versions)
Thyeste 4/5 (brutal mais avec raison)
Les troyennes 4/5 (très touchant)
Agamemnon 3-/5 (Orestie >>)

[Roderick II · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent. These Tudor translations were very influential – there are many echoes in Shakespeare, among others – and very enjoyable. Not as quick reading as, say, Painter’s Palace of Pleasure, but well worth the time.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tenne Tragedies

Hercules Furens *** – I first heard praise about this play (and this translation by Jasper Heywood) nearly 20 years ago. I can’t remember the source, though it may have been T.S. Eliot. And with that encouragement, I started my journey to find a copy.

It hasn’t been easy. Until the mid 1990s, there was only one translation of this play other than Heywood’s. (Another appeared around 2016.) With that meager representation, it’s been tough to find a copy to read.

First, I broke down and bought a print-on-demand version of Thomas Newton’s compilation (including the Heywood translation) called Tenne Tragedies. Although it was advertised as “Tenne” tragedies, the version I received only included five. And Hercules Furens was not one of the five. In addition to the disappointment of not getting the one play I was after, it was in an ancient font that was extremely difficult to read.

After that disappointment, my search continued. Next I found a version of the Tenne Tragedies volumes one and two from the 1920s, and ordered it. Again, I get only one volume not including Hercules Furens.

Back on the search, I found a version published by the Indiana University Press in the 1960s. It was expensive (by my standards), but I paid the price. It was all in one volume, it had the original dust jacket and I knew it wouldn’t be in some obscure font to read.

And here I am having just completed Hercules Furens as translated by Jasper Heywood after 20 years of searching.

This is an example of the hunt being more interesting than the catch. Heywood’s English is a tough go and the Indiana University Press offers no help – no footnotes or anything. Written in fourteeners, it is confounded by complicated syntax and archaic words.

This is not for your average reader. If you have a love of drama (particularly renaissance English drama) you’ll probably want to land on this book at some point. (The recent University of Chicago translations of Seneca are very good.) But for everyone else, brush off your Shakespeare instead. Overall, though, this is one of Seneca’s best plays. (02/18)

Agamemnon **** -- As often noted, this play is probably mistitled. Agamemnon barely makes an appearance. Instead it should be called Clytemnestra.

Once you accept that this is not comparable in form or intent to Aeschylus or the Elizabethan’s, it is an enjoyable work. It’s presentation of the Agamemnon’s murder as revenge for Troy’s destruction is very powerful.

The John Studley translation has some beautiful parts and I particularly like his use of alliteration. It has a great sound to it. Unfortunately the very regular, end stopped, rhymed lines get rather monotonous, and a bit grating.

It would be hard to pick this up and read it cold. It's best to read a more recent translation, then you can relax and just enjoy the exotic language of Studley's translation. (05/20)

[Felipe Farah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A edição feita pela Folha para o lucro ficou muito boa. Apesar de eu ter ficado chateado por apenas encontrar 3 das quase 7 tragédias escritas por Sêneca, não posso negar que os comentários relativos à Mitologia Grega fora bastante ricos.

Sem eles, provavelmente não entenderia uma parte dos versos escritos pelo autor.

Recomendo a leitura como forma de reverenciar os clássicos escritores do século I d.c.