Homerum intellegas, cum audieris poetam: Homer in Seneca’s writings (original) (raw)

2020, Rivista di Cultura Classica e Medioevale

There has been extensive study on Homer’s distinguished place in the Roman education, intellectual and cultural life. However, studies focusing on the reception and use of Homer and his epics by Roman writers, even the major ones, are still limited. This study aims to identify and discuss the direct and indirect references to Homer and his work by one of the most acclaimed Roman writers, Seneca the Younger. As such, the analysis reveals significant aspects of Seneca’s appreciation of Homer as the Greeks’ greatest poet, the place of Homer in the education and general intellectual life of the Romans in the 1st cent. A.D., the quotation techniques employed by Seneca in embedding Homer in his writings (in the original Greek language, in translation, paraphrase, sense rendering, or allusion), and the purposes (for mocking his enemies, for reinforcing his argumentation, or as an exemplum) in doing so, which differentiate according to the content and purpose of each of Seneca’s works in which these quotations appear. Thus, this analysis offers an overall picture of the way in which Seneca perceived and used Homer in his writings.