Pseudo-Seneca,

, the longest dramatic play of classical antiquity (1996 lines), has been handed down in the corpus of Senecan tragedies. Among these ten plays, the

and the

are apparently not written by the same author as the other eight dramas. In one of the manuscript traditions, the genuine

and the

are the first and the last play respectively of the collection. Indeed the

seems to be a sequel and counterpart to the

, since the latter tragedy stages the last days of the hero in which he has to kill himself eventually in order to ascend to heaven, whereas in the

he returns from the underworld only to kill his family and to live on with the guilt and shame. Even if both…

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Citation: Walde, Christine. "Hercules Oetaeus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 December 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13469, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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