This work undertakes a re-evaluation of Seneca's plays, their relationship to Roman imperial culture and their instrumental role in the evolution of the European theatrical tradition. Following an introduction on the history of the Roman theatre, the book provides dramatic and cultural critique of the whole of Seneca's corpus, analyzing the declamatory form of the plays, their rhetoric, interiority, stagecraft and spectacle, dramatic, ideological and moral structure and their overt theatricality. Each of Seneca's plays is examined in detail, locating the force of Senecan drama not only in the...

The first detailed cultural and theatrical history of a major literary form, this landmark introduction examines Roman tragedy and its place at the centre of Rome's cultural and political life.

Analyzing the work of such names as Ennius, Pacuvius and Accius, as well as Seneca and his post-Neronian successors, Anthony J. Boyle delves into detailed discussion on every Roman tragedian whose work survives in substance today. Roman Tragedy examines:

• the history of Roman tragic techniques and conventions
• the history of generic form and change
• the...

The first detailed cultural and theatrical history of a major literary form, this landmark introduction examines Roman tragedy and its place at the centre of Rome s cultural and political life.

Analyzing the work of such names as Ennius, Pacuvius and Accius, as well as Seneca and his post-Neronian successors, Anthony J. Boyle delves into detailed discussion on every Roman tragedian whose work survives in substance today. Roman Tragedy examines:

• the history of Roman tragic techniques and conventions
• the history of generic form and change
• the...

Phaedra, a disturbing drama of unnatural love, violence, and perverted loyalty, is one of eight surviving tragedies written by the millionaire philosopher and litterateur Lucius Annaeus Seneca (ca 1 B.C. - A.D. 65), chief minister to the Emperor Nero. A.J. Boyle's penetrating introduction and extensive notes show why Seneca so deeply influenced Renaissance drama: psychological insight, vivid and powerful verse, highly effective staging (although the question of performance is controversial), and an intellectually demanding conceptual framework. The translation, printed facing the Latin text,...

Introduction, text, translation and commentary.

The politics, literature and culture of ancient Rome during the Flavian principate (69-96 ce) have recently been the subject of intense investigation. In this volume of new, specially commissioned studies, twenty-five scholars from five countries have combined to produce a critical survey of the period, which underscores and re-evaluates its foundational importance. Most of the authors are established international figures, but a feature of the volume is the presence of young, emerging scholars at the cutting edge of the discipline. The studies attend to a diversity of topics, including: the...

The current state of English company law on minority shareholders' remedies is analyzed in the light of the UK Law Commission, further appraised and amplified by the Company Law Review Steering Group. The book covers the common law actions by exception to the Rule in Foss v Harbottle, and the statutory remedies by way of petition for unfair prejudice and/or just and equitable winding up. As well as considering the complexities of derivative actions and statutory minority remedies, Boyle discusses future directions for minority shareholders' remedies.

Octavia is a work of exceptional historical and dramatic interest. It is the only surviving complete example of the Roman historical drama known as the fabula praetexta. Written shortly after Nero's death by an unknown author, the play deals with events at the court of Nero in the decisive year 62 CE, for which it is the earliest extant (almost contemporary) literary source; its main themes are sex, murder, politics, power and the perceptions and constructions of history. It is a powerful, lyrical and spectacular play. This is the first critical edition of Octavia, with verse translation and...

'Tragic Seneca' undertakes a radical re-evaluation of Seneca's plays, their relationship to Roman imperial culture and their instrumental role in the evolution of the European theatrical tradition.

The myth of the sorceress Medea, who, abandoned by her Argonaut husband Jason, killed their children in revenge, has exerted a continuous impact on European writers and artists from classical Greece to the present day. The ancient Romans were especially drawn to the myth, but Seneca's tragedy is the only dramatic treatment to have survived from imperial Rome intact. It is intellectually and poetically one of the richest of Seneca's plays and theatrically one of his most innovative, spectacular and self-reflective. Its themes include the problematics of power and civilization, the dynamics of...