Declamatory color and persona in the tragedies of Seneca the younger

Persona and color were two of the fundamental aspects of Roman declamation. The influence that these two aspects of declamation had on the tragedies of Seneca the Younger has been noted before. For this study, I narrowed my focus to the Controversiae of Seneca the Elder, the tragedian’s father. My approach to studying declamation and the tragedies of Seneca the Younger was to study persona and color in the treatment of two groups common to both the Controversiae and tragedies of Seneca the Younger: the family and women. I found that the manner in which characters within the Controversiae were identified, not by names but by familial or societal position, was reflected in the tragedies within both of the groups of characters which I studied. I also discovered that the characters in the tragedies of Seneca the Younger manipulate the declamatory features of persona and color more than has been previously noted. Within the family, characters either emphasize of deny kinship ties in order to defend against charges of impietas. The stereotypical women of declamation are present in the tragedies of Seneca the Younger. The tragic women, in fact, represent their own actions with reference to the stereotypical women from the Controversiae.Arts, Faculty ofClassical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department ofGraduat