The plays of Seneca the Younger, minister and philosopher under Nero, are today increasingly studied, appreciated and performed. Here, in twelve new papers from a distinguished international cast, scholars explore established questions, such as whether the plays were written for the stage, and newer topics such as the playwright's subtleties of characterisation, his relation to contemporary Roman spectacle and art - and the problems arising in translating him to modern text or stage.

The editor: George W.M. HARRISON has a joint appointment in Greek and Roman Studies and the Institute for Technology, Society and Environmental Studies at Carleton University, Ottawa. He has devoted much of his career to the question of the performance of Seneca’s plays. He has edited or co-edited books on Performance in Greek and Roman Theatre (Brill 2013; with V. Liapis); Brill’s Companion to Roman Tragedy (2015); Satyr Drama: Tragedy at Play (CPW 2005) and Reconstructing Satyr Drama: (De Gruyter 2021; with A. Antonopoulos & M. Christopoulos); Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Hercules (2025) and has contributed to Brill’s Companion to Seneca (2014) and Brill’s Companion on the Reception of Aeschylus (2017). He has been involved in performances of Seneca’s Trojan Women, Euripides’ Cyclops and a play on Peleus in collaboration with the Beijing Opera. He is a founding member of the International Plutarch Society, and of THIASOS - The International Society of Greek Satyr Play, as well as its first president. Two co-ordinated articles on Romanization of Greek drama will appear in 2024 Looking at Greek Drama (Bloomsbury) and Logeion: Journal of Theatre Performance, as well as his monograph on ‘Seneca’, Hercules at Oeta.