Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Medea

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The myth of Medea was well-known to Romans of the first-century CE. One could read Euripides’

Medea

and Apollonius’

Argonautica

in Greek, as well as the Latin versions of Ennius and Varro Atacinus. But the recent, and very popular, works of Ovid dealing with Medea, including his own (now lost) tragedy [cf. Hinds (1993)] had a great impact on Seneca’s view of the myth. Seneca’s tragedy often reveals the influence of the previous literary tradition, and his highly allusive style speaks to the erudition of his audience. In the

Medea

this can be seen especially in the characterization of Medea herself. As Seneca’s Medea metapoetically seeks to outdo her previous representations, so Seneca himself strives to create a novel tragedy that builds off the literary tradition, while…

1862 words

Citation: Trinacty, Christopher . "Medea". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 July 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=33480, accessed 19 March 2024.]

33480 Medea 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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