Seneca the Elder facts for kids

Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Elder (born around 54 BC, died around 39 AD) was an important Roman writer. He came from a rich family in Corduba, which is now in Spain. He is also known as Seneca the Rhetorician because he wrote a lot about rhetoric, which is the art of speaking and writing well.

Seneca the Elder wrote about Roman schools where people learned to speak in public. Some of his writings are still around today, but his main work, a history of Rome, is mostly lost. He lived during the time of three famous Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula. He was the father of Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus, who was a governor. His second son was Seneca the Younger, a famous philosopher and teacher to the emperor Nero. His third son, Marcus Annaeus Mela, was the father of the poet Lucan.

About Seneca the Elder

Seneca the Elder was the first known person from the Annaea gens family to become famous. This family came from Italy. For a long time, people confused his writings with those of his son, Seneca the Younger. In the 1500s, a scholar named Raphael of Volterra realized they were two different people. He thought the elder Seneca's first name was Marcus, but now most scholars agree it was Lucius.

Seneca grew up in Spain in a wealthy family. He lived during a time of war, so he couldn't travel much at first. He likely got his first education in his hometown.

When Rome became safe after the Civil Wars, Seneca traveled there often. He loved to listen to public speeches and debates by teachers and professional speakers. This was how young men trained for careers in law and government. Even though he didn't become a public speaker himself, he wrote a history of Rome. He was a private citizen his whole life. Still, he supported his sons who chose careers in public speaking and politics, even though he knew these jobs could be dangerous.

His Famous Anthology of Speeches

When he was old, Seneca the Elder wrote the book he is most famous for today: Oratorum et Rhetorum Sententiae Divisiones Colores. He wrote it based on his memories of attending schools and public speeches in Rome. He said he wrote it for his sons.

This work was originally ten books about fictitious lawsuits (called Controversiae) and at least one book about fictitious speeches of persuasion (called Suasoriae). Public speaking was very important in Roman culture. Famous people like Augustus and the poet Ovid attended these events.

Seneca's book is not a collection of his own speeches. Instead, it's an anthology. This means it's a collection of extracts and analyses of the speeches given by famous speakers of his time. Seneca added his own descriptions of these speakers and his thoughts on their work. He also included interesting stories he remembered.

The speakers in Rome admired Cicero, a famous Roman orator. However, their style of speaking was different. Seneca called their way of speaking a "new art." It focused on strange, imaginary lawsuits. Seneca knew about both Greek and Latin teachers of rhetoric in Rome.

Porcius Latro was a close friend of Seneca. They went to school together. Latro became one of the best speakers in Rome. Seneca admired his "fiery and agitated style." Another friend of the family, Junius Gallio, was Latro's main rival. Seneca's writings show how different their world of speaking was from Cicero's. They loved clever contrasts and surprising ideas.

Seneca also wrote about other important speakers like Albucius Silus and Arellius Fuscus. He thought Arellius's style was sometimes uneven and too fancy. However, Arellius's school was very famous, and his students included the philosopher Fabianus and the poet Ovid. Albucius Silus also wrote an important textbook.

Seneca's anthology helps us understand the speaking style of the "Silver Age" of Latin literature. This period included the works of Ovid, Seneca the Younger, and the poet Lucan.

The Ten Books of Controversiae

Out of the ten books of Controversiae, only five are mostly complete today. These books discuss about 74 imaginary legal cases. They include the names of the speakers and Seneca's comments. Information from the missing books comes from a shorter version written centuries later for schools. This shorter version also provided stories for European literature in the Middle Ages.

Each of Seneca's books started with a preface. In these prefaces, he described famous speakers. After the prefaces, he looked at how different speakers handled specific themes. This was usually divided into three parts:

• Sententiae: The different ways speakers thought about their topics.
• Divisiones: The outlines of their arguments.
• Colores: The clever ways they interpreted actions to make their imaginary defendants look good or bad.

The Controversiae books also included at least one book on Suasoriae. These were exercises where historical or mythical people thought about their choices at important moments. In the only surviving book of Suasoriae, Seneca gives the speakers' thoughts and arguments, but not the "colores," because those were only for legal speeches.

For a long time, people thought Seneca the Younger wrote the Controversiae. But during the Renaissance, scholars like Raffaello Maffei and Justus Lipsius proved that Seneca the Elder was the true author.

Seneca's Lost History Book

Seneca the Elder also wrote a history book about Rome. It covered events from the beginning of the civil wars until almost his death. His son published it after he died. We know about this book from his son's writings and from a small piece of the history itself. This piece describes Rome's history like the different stages of a person's life, comparing Rome's return to having emperors to an "old age."

In 2017, a researcher named Valeria Piano studied a burnt papyrus scroll found in Herculaneum. This scroll was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. She believes that this scroll contains parts of Seneca the Elder's lost history book. The scroll has traces of his name and seems to be about historical and political events from the early Roman Empire. Unfortunately, the scroll is very hard to read now because it was damaged when it was unrolled.

Editions of the Declamatory Anthology

• Nicolas Lefèvre (Paris, 1587)
• JF Gronovius (Leiden, 1649, Amsterdam, 1672)
• Conrad Bursian (critical edition) (Leipzig, 1857)
• Adolf Kiessling (Leipzig, 1872)
• Hermann Johannes Müller (Prague, 1887)
• Michael Winterbottom, (1974) Declamations, (Controversiae, Suasoriae. Fragments). 2 vols. Loeb Classical Library

See also

In Spanish: Marco Anneo Séneca para niños