{"id":6062,"date":"2017-10-17T14:01:44","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T14:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordlift.io\/blog\/en\/?post_type=entity&p=6062"},"modified":"2020-10-13T22:12:37","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T20:12:37","slug":"seneca","status":"publish","type":"entity","link":"https:\/\/wordlift.io\/blog\/en\/entity\/seneca\/","title":{"rendered":"Seneca"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, also known as Seneca the Younger, is a Roman writer, philosopher and a notable figure in Rome\u2019s political and literary life.<\/p>\n

Seneca lived between 4 BC\u2013AD 65, leaving behind a large and diverse body of works: essays, philosophical treatises, tragedies, a satire.<\/p>\n

Why Read Seneca Today?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Today, in a world of constant connectivity, reading any of Seneca\u2019s works, one can find really good advice. In a way, Seneca\u2019s legacy provides a way to \u201cphilosophically structure our own lives\u201d (see Massimo Pigliucci\u2019s introduction and commentary to Seneca\u2019s On the happy Life<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Seneca\u2019s writings teach us to look at life, ourselves and the human nature in a more calm way with an understanding that reaches beyond the external circumstances and into the very essence of our own being (and doing).<\/p>\n

Seneca\u2019s written word remains a wonderful place to run away from the noise of the crowd (see Moral letters to Lucilius\/Letter 7 – On Crowds<\/a>) where it is upon us to realize the brevity of life (see. Seneca, De Brevitate Vitae<\/a>) and be very careful with the only thing that is ours and that we so often loose entrapped with pointless digital activities – time (ref. Seneca’s advice to collect and keep time: \u201ccollige et serva\u201d from\u00a0Moral letters to Lucilius\/Letter 1 – On Saving Time<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Seneca\u2019s Life: A Rise, an Exile, a Suicide<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Seneca was born in Cordoba, capital of the Roman province of Baetica and today\u2019s city of Spain, in the affluent family of Seneca the Elder, Roman rhetorician and writer, and Helvetia, a well-educated woman of a prominent Baetican family.<\/p>\n

In his early age, Seneca moved to Rome with his father to study rhetoric. After a period of youthful convalescence in Egypt, where his aunt\u2019s husband was a prefect, at the age of 31, Seneca returned to Rome to begin a career in politics and law.<\/p>\n

During the reign of emperor Caligula (37-40) Seneca was a member of the Senate and established himself as a writer and orator, renowned for his eloquence.<\/p>\n

In the year 41, Seneca was sentenced in exile in Corsica by emperor Claudius for an alleged adultery. After spending 8 years in exile Seneca was recalled to Rome by Agrippina, the new wife of emperor Claudius and the mother of Nero, the soon-to-be emperor. Becoming a praetor and further the tutor of the future emperor Seneca\u2019s career entered a 10-year rise.<\/p>\n

In the final years of his life, Seneca withdrew from public life and Roman politics to the countryside where he composed a considerable part of his works.<\/p>\n

In 65 AD, when Seneca was about 60 years old, under suspicion of conspiring against the emperor, the philosopher was ordered to commit suicide. And so he did.<\/p>\n

Seneca\u2019s Works: An Immense, Wide-Ranging Literary and Philosophical Legacy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The works of Seneca the Younger comprise a large body of writings with various styles and of diverse form. Most of them cannot be dated with precision and many are known only as titles. The surviving works by Seneca, date between 41 and 65 and include poetry (tragedies and epigrams), prose (philosophical treatises and letters) and a Menippean Satire.<\/p>\n

Seneca wrote a total of 9 tragedies which are the only fully preserved works of this genre in Rome:<\/p>\n