Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Oedipus

Charilaos N. Michalopoulos (University of Democritus)

Ed. by William John Dominik, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Jula Wildberger (The American University of Paris)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 50

Places

Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play
Tragedy

Resources

Seneca’s Oedipus is the only surviving Roman tragedy on the myth of Oedipus. The exact dating of Seneca’s tragedies remains a much vexed question; however, it is very likely that the Oedipus together with the Agamnenon and the Phaedra belong to the poet’s early production. The play has received so far little attention compared with the rest of Seneca’s tragedies, possibly because of its common subject with Sophocle’s Oedipus Tyrannus and the emblematic role of the Sophoclean play in the study of classical drama, as this was established by Aristotle in his Poetics. The older claim for the direct derivation of Seneca’s Oedipus from Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus is n…

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2197 words

Citation: Michalopoulos, Charilaos N.. "Oedipus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 May 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13466, accessed 03 May 2024.]

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