Description

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

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more t

Phaedra and Other Plays

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    A Paperback / softback by Seneca, R. Scott Smith, R. Scott Smith

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      Book details

      Publisher Penguin Random House Group
      Imprint Penguin Classics
      Published 25 August 2011
      ISBN-13 9780140455519
      978-0140455519
      ISBN-10 0140455515
      Also in:
      Poetry ELT & Literary Studies Ancient, classical and medieval texts

      Description

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

      For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more t

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