Kiesel D (2020)
Publication Language: German
Publication Type: Journal article, Original article
Publication year: 2020
Book Volume: 133
Pages Range: 169-214
DOI: 10.1553/wst133s169
Of Seneca’s eight authentic tragedies, Hercules furens exhibits the most divergent
hermeneutic perspectives on the titular hero. These range from devaluation of Hercules as an
ignorant individual torn by conflicting emotions to appreciation of him as a Stoic hero. This
contribution supports the latter position, following Zwierlein (1984), Wiener (2006), and with
explicit recourse to Seneca’s philosophical views. Firstly, I argue that Seneca’s Hercules is
pictured as a figure characterized by virtus, not by hybris. He thus matches the positive image
of the god-like hero of the philosophical schools that interested Seneca (viz. Cynicism and the
Stoics). Secondly, I show that Seneca in the tragedy dramatizes the difference between
madness caused by false beliefs and pathological madness for which the sufferer is not
responsible (cf. epist. 94,17), attributing the former to Juno, and the latter to Hercules.
A comparison of Medea, who exemplifies anger in Seneca’s tragedy of the same name,
with Juno in the Hercules Furens and an analysis of Hercules’ atrocity against the background
of Aristotelian considerations on action against one’s will in EN 3 conclude the article.
APA:
Kiesel, D. (2020). Hybris oder virtus? Stoisch inspirierte Überlegungen zu Senecas Hercules furens. Wiener Studien, 133, 169-214. https://dx.doi.org/10.1553/wst133s169
MLA:
Kiesel, Dagmar. "Hybris oder virtus? Stoisch inspirierte Überlegungen zu Senecas Hercules furens." Wiener Studien 133 (2020): 169-214.
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