Les Pheniciennes

by Seneca, Eugène Greslou (Translation), Sénèque

Phoenissae (Phoenician women) is a fabula crepidata (Roman tragedy with Greek subject) written by Lucius Annaeus Seneca; with c. 664 lines of verse it is his shortest play. It's situated in Thebes in Boeotia, the city founded by Cadmus, who came from Sidon, in Phoenicia. Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – AD 65), fully Lucius Annaeus Seneca and also known simply as Seneca, was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and—in one work—humorist of the Silver Age of Latin literature. As a tragedian, he is best-known for his Medea and Thyestes. He was a tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero. He was forced to take his own life for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero. However, some sources state that he may have been innocent. His father was Seneca the Elder, his elder brother was Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus, and his nephew was the poet Lucan. Seneca was born in Cordoba in Hispania, and raised in Rome, where he was trained in rhetoric and philosophy. Miriam Griffin says in her biography of Seneca that "the evidence for Seneca's life before his exile in 41 is so slight, and the potential interest of these years, for social history as well as for biography, is so great that few writers on Seneca have resisted the temptation to eke out knowledge with imagination." Griffin also infers from the ancient sources that Seneca was born in either 8, 4, or 1 BC. She thinks he was born between 4 and 1 BC and was a resident in Rome by AD 5. Seneca says that he was carried to Rome in the arms of his mother's stepsister. Griffin says that, allowing for rhetorical exaggeration, means "it is fair to conclude that Seneca was in Rome as a very small boy." Be that as it may, it is clear that he was in Rome at a relatively early stage in his life.

Genres: Plays, Drama

26 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 64

About the author

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca or Seneca the Younger); ca. 4 BC – 65 AD) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero, who later forced him to commit suicide for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to have him assassinated.

Reviews

[Illiterate · Rating 1 out of 5]

This play is all over the place and surely incomplete.

[Lotte Haegeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heel kort toneelstuk (onvolledig). Ook wat fragmentarisch.

[Rehana Mohamed · Rating 3 out of 5]

يا أبت، إن الفضيلة ليست كما تعتقد
بأن تخشى الحياة، ولكن أن تواجه المصائب العظمى
ولا تتحنبها ولا تعطيها ظهرك
فالرجل هو الذي يطأ قدره بقدميه ويتجاهل نعم الحياة ويتخلى عنها ويتحمل آلامه بنفسه.

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

~letto e tradotto~

[Heba books · Rating 2 out of 5]

.
كلنا نعلم قصة أوديب الذي نالته لعنة بسبب خطأ والده الذي طال العائلة كلها، فأوديب قتل والده وتزوج أمه وأنجب منها وبالطبع لم يكن يعرف، لكن بعد معرفته بالحقيقة قام بفقأ عينيه وانعزل متمنيا الموت.
بالمسرحية نراه وهو يرثي نفسه ويرفض أي مساعدة من ابنته التي رفضت أن تتركه يهيم وهو أعمى وترجوه أن يوقف الحرب بين أخويها اللذان طالتهما اللعنة أيضاً وأصبح مصيرهما القتال ضد بعضهما,
لتنتهي بمحاولة الأم الإصلاح بينهما فبعد المصيبة التي حلت بها حاولت منع المزيد من الحوادث، لكن للأسف هذه المسرحية لم تصل إلينا مكتملة وانتهت على ذلك.
لم تقدم المسرحية جديدا فقد تناولها العديد من الشعراء لكن هنا ركزت على ما حدث فيما بعد واللذي لم يكن كثيراً.

[Matthew Wilder · Rating 1 out of 5]

This sequel to OEDIPUS has the most fascinating “scene missing” title cards outside of Dennis Hopper’s THE LAST MOVIE; but this may be the most wretchedly mossy translation of anything I’ve read of the period.

[Dr-Ahmed H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent translation