A report on Seneca the Younger

Ancient bust of Seneca, part of the Double Herm of Socrates and Seneca
Modern statue of Seneca in Córdoba
Nero and Seneca, by Eduardo Barrón (1904). Museo del Prado
Manuel Domínguez Sánchez, The suicide of Seneca (1871), Museo del Prado
Lodovico Lana, Death of Seneca, National Gallery of Art
First page of the Naturales Quaestiones, made for the Catalan-Aragonese court
Woodcut illustration of the suicide of Seneca and the attempted suicide of his wife Pompeia Paulina
Naturales quaestiones, 1522
Plato, Seneca, and Aristotle in a medieval manuscript illustration (c. 1325–35)
The "Pseudo-Seneca", a Roman bust found at Herculaneum, one of a series of similar sculptures known since the Renaissance, once identified as Seneca. Now commonly identified as Hesiod
"Seneca", ancient hero of the modern Córdoba; this architectural roundel in Seville is based on the "Pseudo-Seneca" (illustration above)
Baroque marble imaginary portrait bust of Seneca, by an anonymous sculptor of the 17th century. Museo del Prado

Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature.

- Seneca the Younger
Ancient bust of Seneca, part of the Double Herm of Socrates and Seneca

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Papirius Fabianus

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Ancient Roman rhetorician and philosopher from the gens Papirius in the time of Tiberius and Caligula, in the first half of the 1st century AD.

Ancient Roman rhetorician and philosopher from the gens Papirius in the time of Tiberius and Caligula, in the first half of the 1st century AD.

Fabianus soon, however, abandoned rhetoric in favor of philosophy; and Seneca the Younger places his philosophical works next to those of Cicero, Asinius Pollio, and Livy the historian.

Detail of an engraving by John Payne (1628)

Joseph Hall (bishop)

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English bishop, satirist and moralist.

English bishop, satirist and moralist.

Detail of an engraving by John Payne (1628)
The Dolphin Inn, Norwich, in the building where Hall had his palace from 1643 to 1647
Title page of Joseph Hall's Virgidemiarum, 1597.
Map from Mundus alter et idem.

Hall's relationship to the stoicism of the classical age, exemplified by Seneca the Younger, is still debated, with the importance of neo-stoicism and the influence of the Flemish philosopher Justus Lipsius to his work being contested, in contrast to Christian morality.

Petrarch portrait by Altichiero

Petrarch

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Scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.

Scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.

Petrarch portrait by Altichiero
Petrarch portrait by Altichiero
Santa Maria della Pieve in Arezzo
La Casa del Petrarca (birthplace) at Vicolo dell'Orto, 28 in Arezzo
Summit of Mont Ventoux
Petrarch's Arquà house near Padua where he retired to spend his last years
Original lyrics by Petrarch, found in 1985 in Erfurt
Petrarch's Virgil (title page) (c. 1336) Illuminated manuscript by Simone Martini, 29 x 20 cm Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan.
The Triumph of Death, or The 3 Fates. Flemish tapestry (probably Brussels, c. 1510–1520). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, who spin, draw out and cut the thread of life, represent Death in this tapestry, as they triumph over the fallen body of Chastity. This is the third subject in Petrarch's poem "The Triumphs". First, Love triumphs; then Love is overcome by Chastity, Chastity by Death, Death by Fame, Fame by Time and Time by Eternity
Petrarch revived the work and letters of the ancient Roman Senator Marcus Tullius Cicero
Laura de Noves
Dante Alighieri, detail from a Luca Signorelli fresco in the chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto.
Statue of Petrarch on the Uffizi Palace, in Florence
Petrarch's tomb at Arquà Petrarca

Cicero, Virgil, and Seneca were his literary models.

Attalus (Stoic)

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Stoic philosopher in the reign of Tiberius around 25 AD. He was defrauded of his property by Sejanus, and exiled where he was reduced to cultivating the ground.

Stoic philosopher in the reign of Tiberius around 25 AD. He was defrauded of his property by Sejanus, and exiled where he was reduced to cultivating the ground.

He taught the Stoic philosophy to Seneca the Younger, who frequently quotes him, and speaks of him in the highest terms.

Image of Saint Martin of Braga in a 10th-century manuscript.

Martin of Braga

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Archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Gallaecia (now Braga in Portugal), a missionary, a monastic founder, and an ecclesiastical author.

Archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Gallaecia (now Braga in Portugal), a missionary, a monastic founder, and an ecclesiastical author.

Image of Saint Martin of Braga in a 10th-century manuscript.
Martin, Archbishop of Braga

But for modern scholars, his most interesting works were two treatises he wrote in the final decade of his life, De ira and Formula vitae honestae, because they were adapted from two essays of Seneca the Younger which were subsequently lost.

Publius Suillius Rufus

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Roman senator who was active during the Principate.

Roman senator who was active during the Principate.

Eventually, Suilius Rufus met his fate: during the reign of Nero, Seneca successfully prosecuted him.

Title page of the 1656 publication of the libretto

L'incoronazione di Poppea

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Italian opera by Claudio Monteverdi.

Italian opera by Claudio Monteverdi.

Title page of the 1656 publication of the libretto
Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, Monteverdi's employer during his Mantua years when the composer wrote his early operas
Giovanni Francesco Busenello, librettist of ''L'incoronazione di Poppea
Claudio Monteverdi
Poppea, represented in a 16th-century painting
The Death of Seneca (Luca Giordano, 1684)
Floor plan of the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo (1654)
Nerone pondering his misdeeds (Detail of 1878 painting by J. W. Waterhouse)
From the 1962 Glyndebourne production: Lucano, played by Hugues Cuénod, performs in his singing contest with Nerone (act 2, scene 6)

The main sources for the story told in Busenello's libretto are the Annals of Tacitus; book 6 of Suetonius's history The Twelve Caesars; books 61–62 of Dio Cassius's Roman History; and an anonymous play Octavia (once attributed to the real life Seneca), from which the opera's fictional nurse characters were derived.

Albertino Mussato

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Statesman, poet, historian and playwright from Padua.

Statesman, poet, historian and playwright from Padua.

Lovati was one of the first to demonstrate "proto-humanism" and is known for the discovery of Seneca's plays as well as familiarity with ancient lyric poets such as Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius.

Theatrical release poster

Quo Vadis (1951 film)

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1951 American epic film set in ancient Rome during the final years of Emperor Nero's reign, based on the 1896 novel of the same title by Polish Nobel Laureate author Henryk Sienkiewicz.

1951 American epic film set in ancient Rome during the final years of Emperor Nero's reign, based on the 1896 novel of the same title by Polish Nobel Laureate author Henryk Sienkiewicz.

Theatrical release poster
Scene from Quo Vadis
Deborah Kerr as Lygia
Leo Genn as Petronius
Peter Ustinov as Nero
Patricia Laffan as Sabina
Publicity photo of Marina Berti as Eunice
The 1953 Japanese theatrical release poster
Screenshot of Marina Berti & Leo Genn from the trailer for the film Quo Vadis
Ringling Museum Sarasota, Florida: Bronze statue of Lygea tied to the bull by Giuseppe Moretti

He refuses to do so, even after four of his courtiers, Seneca, architect Phaon, poet Lucan, and musician Terpnos add their endorsement of the mob's demands.

The Four Philosophers (c. 1615. Oil on panel; 167 x 143 cm, Pitti Palace, Florence). One of Lipsius's students was Philip Rubens, the brother of the painter Peter Paul Rubens. In his friendship portrait of about 1615, the painter depicted himself, his brother, Lipsius and Jan van den Wouwer, another pupil of Lipsius, (left to right) along with Lipsius' dog Mopsulus. A bust of Seneca behind the philosopher references his work, while the ruins of Rome's Palatine Hill in the background further commemorate the classical influences. Rubens painted a similar friendship portrait while in Mantua around 1602 (now in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne) that also includes Lipsius.

Justus Lipsius

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Flemish Catholic philologist, philosopher, and humanist.

Flemish Catholic philologist, philosopher, and humanist.

The Four Philosophers (c. 1615. Oil on panel; 167 x 143 cm, Pitti Palace, Florence). One of Lipsius's students was Philip Rubens, the brother of the painter Peter Paul Rubens. In his friendship portrait of about 1615, the painter depicted himself, his brother, Lipsius and Jan van den Wouwer, another pupil of Lipsius, (left to right) along with Lipsius' dog Mopsulus. A bust of Seneca behind the philosopher references his work, while the ruins of Rome's Palatine Hill in the background further commemorate the classical influences. Rubens painted a similar friendship portrait while in Mantua around 1602 (now in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne) that also includes Lipsius.
The Justus Lipsius Commemorative Coin
Illustration from De militia romana libri quinque, 1596

It was during this time that he prepared his Seneca, and perfected, in successive editions, his Tacitus, and brought out a series of other works.