SENECA-Context

Question 1

What did Seneca write?

Answer 1

124 letters, dozen essays and ten tragedies, including Medea and Phaedra

Question 2

Why were his tragedies a problem?

Answer 2

Tragedies usually refer to a catharsis of emotion being prompted in the story, which goes against stoicism and emotional moderation.

Question 3

How did Seneca justify his tragedies?

Answer 3

He stated they were moral lessons. For example, he removed the divine intervention was Phaedra to make it more perverted.

Question 4

When was Seneca born?

Answer 4

4 BC in Hispania

Question 5

Why did Seneca go to Rome?

Answer 5

His father was a talented rhetorician, meaning Seneca was provided a good education and he went to Rome for his studies

Question 6

When did Seneca die?

Answer 6

65 AD

Question 7

How did Seneca die?

Answer 7

Forced to commit suicide by emperor Nero as he was accused of being a part of the Pisonian Conspiracy (we do not know if he was)

Question 8

What is stoicism?

Answer 8

A philosophy founded by Zeno in Greece in 4BC, where you elevated reason above the desires of the body in order to remove all pain and live very simply.

Question 9

What is Apatheia?

Answer 9

‘Immunity to pain’ the desired state of mind for a stoic

Question 10

What did Zeno of Citium’s version of stoicism include?

Answer 10

Influenced by the works of Socrates and taught logos (reason) over pleasure. Taught to reject reliance on relationships, pleasure, food, belongings, grief, etc..

Question 11

Who was Epictetus?

Answer 11

55-135 AD, A Greek Philosopher and Former Slave

Question 12

What did Epictetus teach?

Answer 12

-“Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices.
-Believed nothing died or was lost, but everything was instead “returned”.
-“THE WISE MAN GAINS CONTENTMENT ONLY FROM HIMSELF.”

Question 13

Seneca refers to himself a stoic ‘wise man’. How does he characterise this?

Answer 13

As someone who attains apatheia by freeing himself from vices (desires of the body) and giving full authority to reason.

Question 14

How does Seneca’s stoicism differ from other forms of stoicism.

Answer 14

-Advocates for friendship
-Permits grief
-Portrays the path to apatheia as difficult
-Slightly milder and more accessible version of stoicism.

Question 15

What was love to Seneca?

Answer 15

Something pure and separate from the body.

Question 16

When was Seneca recalled from exile and who recalled him?

Answer 16

Agrippiana (Claudius’ 2 wife) recalled Seneca in 48 AD.

Question 17

Why did Agrippiana recall Seneca?

Answer 17

So he could be Nero’s tutor. He then became Nero’s advisor when he became emperor.

Question 18

Name for the Five Golden Years of Nero’s reign

Answer 18

Quinquennium Aureum
(these were mostly attributed to Seneca and his advise)

Question 19

Hypocrisies of Seneca

Answer 19

Taught stoicism but had amassed a great fortune, potentially committed fraud, and was linked to an unstable, tyrant of an emperor who also provided Seneca with status.