014 Atrocities Roman Style: Seneca’s “Medea” and “Thyestes”

We’re forced to read “Hamlet” at school. Shakespeare was forced to read “Thyestes”. 

Family squabbles turning hyperviolent has a long history, nowhere more violent than in these Ancient Roman classics. Do Seneca’s bloody plays still have power to shock? We dig into “Medea” and “Thyestes”.

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Sources:

Seneca, Six Tragedies, trans. Emily Wilson (Oxford University Press)

Seneca, Four Tragedies and Octavia, trans. E F Watling (Penguin Books)