L'image du pouvoir royal dans les tragédies de Sénèque

Greek tragedy stages kings. There were no kings in Athens in the Vth Century BC. The kings in the tragedies are « archetypes », uncommon beings. Aristotle defines them as « important » persons spoudaioi, a qualification which the Stoics were to apply to wise men. That does not mean that kings were virtuous. They are on the contrary tormented by a host of passions, the first being dread, and dread makes them cruel. Seneca is not hostile to regality. He is sensitive to its sacred aura. He knows that « good kings » do exist, like Theseus, and the temptations inseparable from supreme power can be overcome provided Kings learn how to practise the virtues taught by the philosophers : temperantia, dementia, prudentia, justice. Hercules is an illustration of the thesis. It is to be noted that Seneca, in order to locate in the world Hercules' divinisation, uses a language that will reappear in Lucan, at the beginning of Pharsale

Archetype · Art · Greek tragedy · Humanities · Literature · Oath · Order (exchange · Passions · Power (physics · Theology · Tragedy (event · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Historical and Literary Analyses · Philosophy

• Descriptiones et vision stoïcienne du destin dans l'Œdipe de Sénèque

  Open Access•Jean-Pierre Aygon•Pallas•1998

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