Phaedra and Other Plays

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 <i>Hercules Insane</i> saves his own family from slaughter, only to commit further atrocities when he goes mad. The horrifying death of Astyanax is recounted in <i>Trojan Women</i>, and <i>Phaedra</i> deals with forbidden love. In <i>Oedipus</i> a nervous man discovers himself, while <i>Thyestes </i>recounts the bitter family struggle for a crown. Of uncertain authorship, <i>Octavia </i>dramatizes Nero'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.