Born - 4 B. C. E. - Cordoba,Spain
49 A. D. Appointed Advisor to Nero
Died 65 A. D. - ordered to commit suicide for his possible role in a conspiracy to murder Emperor Nero
An Article from the Enclopedia Britanica has a detailed account of Seneca's involvement in Roman imperial politics
DRAMATIS PERSONAE- in order of appearance
HECUBA, Queen of Troy TALTHYBIUS, Greek herald PYRRHUS, son of Achilles AGAMEMNON, Greek leader CALCHAS, Greek prophet ANDROMACHE, wife of Hector OLD MAN ASTYANAX, Andromache’s son ULYSSES, HELEN MESSENGER CHORUS [POLYXENA: silent part
The action is set in the city of Troy, in the aftermath of the ten-year war. The Greeks—led by Ulysses and Agamemnon—have used the trick of the wooden horse to break the siege, invade the city, and defeat the inhabitants. The wealth of Troy is looted; the Trojan men are dead, including the great hero Hector, killed by Achilles; the Trojan Women enslaved, and will be taken home as servants and concubines by the various Greek soldiers. But before the Greek fleet can set sail, fate has decreed that two Trojan children must be killed: Astyanax, son of Hector and Andromache, must be thrown from the city walls; and Polyxena, daughter of Hecuba and Priam, the king and queen of Troy, must be given in ‘marriage’ to the dead Achilles, and then slaughtered. Seneca’s play plots the fulfilment of these terrible predictions.
In my post on his Pheadra I observed that contemporaries of Seneca were coming to see Rome as entering a period of decadence and decline. Educated Romans were beginning to doubt the Gods, even seeing them as fairy tales.
"CHORUS Is it true, or a myth to deceive the fearful, that spirits live on after bodies are buried, when the wife has laid her hand on the dead man’s eyes, and his last day has blocked out the sun and the mournful urn contains his ashes? Is it pointless to give our souls to death, since we, poor things, still have to keep on living? Or do we totally die, and does no part of us remain, when with a fleeting gasp...
. Hungry time and emptiness devour us. Death is a single whole: it kills our body and does not spare the soul. The realm of Taenarus,* kingdom of cruel Hades, and the guard-dog Cerberus, fierce defender of the gate, are fictions, tall tales, empty fairy stories, myths, as close to truth as a bad dream. Do you want to know where you will be after death? Where the unborn are."
In Trojan Women the Greek Leaders are very much vilified, no Homeric Hero emerges unblemished
The women of Troy themselves do not know what the future holds for Ulysses and other Greek Leaders but the Chorus makes sure it is paramount in the mind of the audience.
There is no glory in war. Other women expressed extreme contempt for Helen.
I would suggest that those interested first read Euripides’s version of Trojan women.Emily Wilson is the College for Women Class of 1963 Term Professor in the Humanities, professor of Classical Studies, and graduate chair of the Program in Comparative Literature & Literary Theory at the University of Pennsylvania. Wilson attended Oxford University (Balliol College B.A. and Corpus Christi College M.Phil.) and Yale University (Ph.D.). In 2006, she was named a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome in Renaissance & Early Modern scholarship. In 2019 she was named a MacArthur Fellow, and in 2020 she was named a Guggenheim Fellow. She lives in Philadelphia with her three daughters, three cats, two rats, and one dog.
Follow Professor Wilson on Twitter @EmilyRCWilson. Professor Wilson frequently tweets about the Odyssey, translation, and her pets. From https://www.emilyrcwilson.com/
There are links to links to several articles by Wilson as well as several interviews on her website.
The next play by Seneca I will read is Thyestes.
Mel Ulm
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