Category:Seneca (subject)

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Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, c. 3 BCE – 65 CE) was a Roman philosopher.

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Overview

Seneca was one of the more influential figures of Roman stoicism. He may have known personally Philo of Alexandria while living in Alexandria, and later in Rome, which Philo visited in 39-40 CE. The early Christian tradition widely speculated about the possible encounter between Seneca and Paul of Tarsus and an apocryphal epistolary between the two was long believed to be authentic. Whether or not Seneca was aware of the emerging Christian movement, his philosophical thought had a significant impact in the development of early Christian theology in the Roman world.

Seneca as a source of Second Temple Judaism

Seneca, De Superstitione, from Augustine, City of God, 6.11 -- Seneca, among other superstitions of civic theology, found the sacred things of the Jews reprehensible, especially the Sabbath, asseverating to do this is inexpedient, because the Jews waste away a seventh of their lives by putting in one day (of rest) in seven days, and they are harmed by not doing many things during urgent times. Nevertheless, he mentions the Christians, (who were) most inimical towards the Jews, only in neutral terms, so that he may not praise them against the old customs of this native land, or repudiate them against his own will. But concerning the Jews, he said, “In the meantime the custom of this most wicked race grows so much, so that it is received through the whole land; conquered ones give laws to their victors.” He, saying these things, marvels and being ignorant of what God was doing, (but) he adds a statement by which he signifies what he thought concerning the reason of their sacred rites. Indeed, "they (the Jews) know the causes of their own rituals, but a greater part of the (Roman) people do not know why they perform (their rites)."

Seneca in Scholarship

Seneca in Fiction

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