Seneca was a Roman philosopher and playwright who served as Emperor Nero’s tutor and advisor. He studied Stoic philosophy in his youth, clashed with Caligula and Messalina, and returned to Rome at the request of Agrippina to tutor Nero. He retired in 63 and was ordered to commit suicide by Nero in 65. Seneca’s philosophical works and tragedies were influential in medieval Europe and on playwrights such as Racine and Shakespeare.
Lucio Anneo Seneca was a Roman philosopher and playwright of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He served as Emperor Nero’s tutor and later became his advisor. Seneca’s philosophical works are of the Stoic school, emphasizing the importance of reason, learning, simplicity of lifestyle, and the serene acceptance of suffering and death.
Little is known about Seneca’s early life. He was the son of the rhetorician Lucio Anneo Seneca, known as Seneca the Elder. Seneca the Younger was born around 4 BC and lived in Rome from early childhood. His family was from Corduba, in present-day Spain.
Seneca began studying Stoic philosophy in his youth under the tutors Attalos and Sotion. He spent some time in Egypt with his aunt, returning to Rome in AD 31, where he campaigned to become a magistrate. Seneca clashed with the emperor Caligula and later with Messalina, wife of the emperor Claudius, who ordered his exile to Corsica in 41. The philosopher spent his time in exile studying and writing.
Seneca returned to Rome in 49 at the request of Claudius’ new wife Agrippina, who kept the philosopher as tutor for her son Nero. When Claudius died in 54 and Nero became the new emperor, Seneca was his advisor together with the praetorian prefect Burrus. Over the years, Nero’s advisors had less influence on him and Seneca retired in 63, after Burrus’ death, and devoted himself to the intellectual life.
Nero ordered Seneca to commit suicide in 65 on suspicion that he had been involved in a plot against the emperor’s life. After opening his veins and unsuccessfully poisoning himself, Seneca entered a hot bath to drain the blood faster and asphyxiated by the steam.
Seneca’s philosophical works are classic examples of Stoic thought. He also wrote tragedies, which were widely read and revered in medieval Europe and became an influence on playwrights such as Jean Racine and William Shakespeare. Seneca also wrote a satire on Claudius’ reign and a seven-volume work on meteorology.
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