Pseudo-seneca

This title provides accessible introductions to ancient tragedies. Each volume discusses the main themes of a play and the central developments in modern criticism, while also addressing the play's historical context and the history of its performance and adaptation. "The Octavia" is generally acknowledged to be a work of the second half of the first century AD, when Nero's divorce and subsequent execution of his virtuous first wife, Octavia, would have been topical. It explores not only the abuse of power but the disintegration of a society without respect. The reader is challenged to view events in the last years of the reign of Nero in light of an earlier famous Octavia, the sister of Augustus abandoned by Antony for Cleopatra, and also in light of other well known historical dramas. George Harrison places the "Octavia" in the context of Latin dramas of the early empire, both those of Seneca, which survive and others on historical topics, some of which brought charges of treason against their authors. He discusses major trends in interpretation of the play and the history of its performance.