Seneca the Younger

In Our Time: Philosophy

BBC

History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2017

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Seneca the Younger, who was one of the first great writers to live his entire life in the world of the new Roman empire, after the fall of the Republic. He was a Stoic philosopher, he wrote blood-soaked tragedies, he was an orator, and he navigated his way through the reigns of Caligula, Claudius and Nero, sometimes exercising power at the highest level and at others spending years in exile. Agrippina the Younger was the one who called for him to tutor Nero, and it is thought Seneca helped curb some of Nero's excesses. He was later revered within the Christian church, partly for what he did and partly for what he was said to have done in forged letters to St Paul. His tragedies, with their ghosts and high body count, influenced Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and Hamlet, and Kyd's Spanish Tragedy. The image above is the so-called bust of Seneca, a detail from Four Philosophers by Peter Paul Rubens. With Mary Beard Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge Catharine Edwards Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London and Alessandro Schiesaro Professor of Classics at the University of Manchester Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:02.0	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:05.0	There's a reading list to go with it on our website and you can get news about our programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC in our time.
0:12.0	I hope you enjoy the programs.
0:14.0	Hello Seneca the Younger orator philosopher and playwright was born in the Roman
0:19.0	province of Hispania Modern Spain around 4 BC and was the first great Latin writer under the
0:25.6	emperors after the fall of the Republic. He found a way to live and work under this
0:29.8	new autocracy in which he was exiled by one emperor,
0:33.2	Caligula, only to be called back to tutor the future emperor,
0:36.8	Nero.
0:37.8	Later, as his advisor, he curbed Nero's worst excesses.
0:42.1	Sunicus plays depict the corruptions of absolute power and unchecked emotion,
0:46.0	and they greatly influenced the revenge tragedy of Shakespeare's age,
0:50.0	with body piled on body.
0:52.0	His philosophy, Stoicism, shows a way to remain happy in the face of the worst
0:55.9	misfortunes. An idea Seneca put to the test when Nera ordered that he kill himself.
1:01.6	With me to discuss the life and works of Seneca are Mary Beard, Professor of Classics
1:06.4	at the University of Cambridge, Catherine Edwards, Professor of Classics in Ancient History at
1:10.9	Birkbeck, University of London,
1:13.0	excuse me, and Alessandros Gisara, professor of classics,
1:16.0	at the University of Manchester.
1:18.0	Kastrindras what, if anything, do you know of Seneca's early life?
	...

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