Seneca Medea

A full-scale critical edition of Seneca's Medea which offers a substantial introduction, a new Latin text, an English verse translation, and a detailed commentary. Boyle locates the play firmly in its contemporary, historical, and theatrical context and in the ensuing literary and dramatic tradition.

Composed in early imperial Rome by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Stoic philosopher and tutor to the emperor Nero, the tragedy Medea is dominated by the superhuman energy of its protagonist: diva, killer, enchantress, force of nature. Seneca's treatment of the myth covers an episode identical to that of Euripides' Greek version, enabling instructive comparisons to be drawn. Seneca's Medea has challenged and fascinated theatre-makers across cultures and centuries and should be regarded as integral to the classical heritage of European theatre. This companion volume sketches the essentials of Seneca's play and at the same time situates it within an interpretive tradition. It also uses Medea to illustrate key features of Senecan dramaturgy, the way in which language functions as a mode of theatrical representation and the way in which individuals are embedded in their surrounding conditions, resonating dissonantly with the principles of Roman Stoicism. By interweaving some of the play's subsequent receptions, theatrical and textual, into critical analysis of Medea as dramatic poetry, this companion volume will encourage the student to come to grips immediately with the ancient text's inherent multiplicity. In this way, reception theory informs not only the content of the volume but also, fundamentally, the way in which it is presented.

Based on extensive archival research and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, this book provides the most detailed reconstruction ever of one of the most important events in Spanish theatrical history.Winner of the 2019-20 AHGBI-Spanish Embassy Publication Prize On 18 June 1933, one of the most important events in Spanish theatrical history took place before an audience of 3,000 spectators in the ruins of the Roman Theatre in Mérida. Translated into Spanish by philosopher Miguel de Unamuno, staged by the renowned Xirgu-Borràs Company and funded by the government, the performance of Seneca''s Medea was a triumph of republican culture and widely hailed for its new dramatic and scenic languages. This book provides the most detailed reconstruction of this pivotal production to date, setting it in context and analysing its origin and legacy. Early twentieth-century intellectuals considered Seneca, ''the philosopher from Córdoba'', the epitome of Spanishness and the first in an illustrious line of playwrights stretching from Spain''s Roman Antiquity to its Silver Age. His play was seen as the ideal vehicle to showcase the Second Spanish Republic''s cultural, social and educational agenda but provoked a furious backlash from opponents to the government''s progressive programme. The book shows how the performance became a cultural ritual which stood at the centre of critical discussions on national identity, politics, secularism, women''s rights and new European aesthetics of theatre-making. Based on extensive archival research and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, it will be of interest to theatre historians, scholars of Classical Reception and historians of the Second Spanish Republic.aywrights stretching from Spain''s Roman Antiquity to its Silver Age. His play was seen as the ideal vehicle to showcase the Second Spanish Republic''s cultural, social and educational agenda but provoked a furious backlash from opponents to the government''s progressive programme. The book shows how the performance became a cultural ritual which stood at the centre of critical discussions on national identity, politics, secularism, women''s rights and new European aesthetics of theatre-making. Based on extensive archival research and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, it will be of interest to theatre historians, scholars of Classical Reception and historians of the Second Spanish Republic.aywrights stretching from Spain''s Roman Antiquity to its Silver Age. His play was seen as the ideal vehicle to showcase the Second Spanish Republic''s cultural, social and educational agenda but provoked a furious backlash from opponents to the government''s progressive programme. The book shows how the performance became a cultural ritual which stood at the centre of critical discussions on national identity, politics, secularism, women''s rights and new European aesthetics of theatre-making. Based on extensive archival research and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, it will be of interest to theatre historians, scholars of Classical Reception and historians of the Second Spanish Republic.aywrights stretching from Spain''s Roman Antiquity to its Silver Age. His play was seen as the ideal vehicle to showcase the Second Spanish Republic''s cultural, social and educational agenda but provoked a furious backlash from opponents to the government''s progressive programme. The book shows how the performance became a cultural ritual which stood at the centre of critical discussions on national identity, politics, secularism, women''s rights and new European aesthetics of theatre-making. Based on extensive archival research and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, it will be of interest to theatre historians, scholars of Classical Reception and historians of the Second Spanish Republic.ce became a cultural ritual which stood at the centre of critical discussions on national identity, politics, secularism, women''s rights and new European aesthetics of theatre-making. Based on extensive archival research and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, it will be of interest to theatre historians, scholars of Classical Reception and historians of the Second Spanish Republic.

Medea finds her position in the Greek world threatened when her husband Jason attempts to leave her for a Greek princess of Corinth. In this classic translation of Seneca's Medea, Ella Harris retains the powerful effects of the monologues, as well as the unique flavor of Seneca's language.

Medea is a fabula crepidata (Roman tragedy with Greek subject) of about 1027 lines of verse written by Seneca. It is generally considered to be the strongest of his earlier plays. It was written around 50 CE. The play is about the vengeance of Medea against her betraying husband Jason and King Creon. The leading role, Medea, delivers over half of the play's lines. Medea addresses many themes, one being that the title character represents "payment" for humans' transgression of natural laws. She was sent by the gods to punish Jason for his sins. Another theme is her powerful voice that cannot be silenced, not even by King Creon.

Annotation Here, translated into modern idiom, are many works of the authors whose ideas have consitituted the mainstream of classical thought. This volume of new translations was born of necessity, to answer the needs of a course in Greek and Roman culture offered by the Department of Integrated Liberal Studies at the University of Wisconsin. Since its original publication in 1952, Classics in Translation has been adopted by many different academic insititutions to fill similar needs of their undergraduate students. This new printing is further evidence of this collection's general acceptance by teachers, students, and the reviewing critics.