Seneca
Roman Stoic philosopher and dramatist
Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman and playwright who advised the emperor Nero. His essays and letters on moral questions are central sources for ancient Stoicism.
2 summaries 36 min of listening
Roman Born in Corduba, Ancient Rome Died AD 65
About Seneca
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, known as Seneca the Younger, lived from about 4 BC to AD 65. He was born in Corduba in Hispania, and trained in rhetoric and philosophy in Greece. He worked as a philosopher, statesman and dramatist. Seneca was exiled to Corsica in AD 41 under the emperor Claudius. He returned in 49 to tutor Nero, and when Nero became emperor in 54 he became his advisor. In 65 he was forced to take his own life over alleged involvement in a plot against Nero. His prose includes 12 essays and 124 letters on moral issues, and he also wrote tragedies such as Medea, Thyestes and Phaedra. Among his works on BookBits are Letters from a Stoic and On the Shortness of Life.