text: Roman

text: Stoic

text: dramatist

text: satirist

text: Silver Age of Latin literature

text: Córdoba

text: Hispania

text: Rome

text: Seneca the Elder

text: Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus

text: Lucan

text: Corsica

text: Claudius

text: Nero

text: Sextus Afranius Burrus

text: Pisonian conspiracy

text: tragedies

text: one hundred and twenty-four letters

text: Stoicism

text: Medea

text: Thyestes

text: Phaedra

text: Córdoba

text: Baetica

text: Hispania

text: Lucius Annaeus Seneca the elder

text: Roman knight

text: Lucius Annaeus Novatus

text: Annaeus Mela

text: Lucan

text: Miriam Griffin

text: Rome

text: Attalus

text: Stoic

text: Sotion

text: Papirius Fabianus

text: School of the Sextii

text: Pythagoreanism

text: vegetarian

text: asthma

text: tuberculosis

text: Egypt

text: Gaius Galerius

text: Prefect of Egypt

text: quaestor

text: Roman Senate

text: Cassius Dio

text: Caligula

text: Claudius

text: Messalina

text: Julia Livilla

text: Agrippina

text: Corsica

text: consolations

text: Pompeia Paulina

text: Polybius

text: praetor

text: Nero

text: praetorian prefect

text: Sextus Afranius Burrus

text: suffect consul

text: Apocolocyntosis

text: On Clemency

text: Britannicus

text: Tacitus

text: Publius Suillius Rufus

text: Tacitus

text: Cassius Dio

text: sestertii

text: Baiae

text: Nomentum

text: Alban

text: Boudica

text: Britannia

text: conquest of Britain

text: De Vita Beata

text: Naturales quaestiones

text: Letters to Lucilius

text: Pisonian conspiracy

text: vein

text: bleed to death

text: Pompeia Paulina

text: Quintilian

text: Aulus Gellius

text: Tertullian

text: Paul the Apostle

text: Jerome

text: Augustine

text: Martin of Braga

text: florilegia

text: Letters to Lucilius

text: Golden Legend

text: hagiographical

text: Dante

text: Cicero

text: First Circle of Hell

text: Limbo

text: Boccaccio

text: Montecassino

text: Albertino Mussato

text: Giovanni Colonna

text: Dante

text: Chaucer

text: Petrarch

text: Virgil

text: Renaissance

text: Erasmus

text: John Calvin

text: John of Salisbury

text: Montaigne

text: Plutarch

text: Pasquier

text: Thomas Fuller

text: Joseph Hall

text: Jacques-Louis David

text: The Death of Seneca

text: Quo Vadis

text: Apocolocyntosis

text: Nestor

text: Publius Suillius Rufus

text: sesterces

text: Gerolamo Cardano

text: encomium

text: Socrates

text: Plato

text: Xenophon

text: Aristophanes

text: history of ideas

text: Martha Nussbaum

text: political philosophy

text: Stoicism

text: Naturales Quaestiones

text: eclectic

text: Zeno

text: Cleanthes

text: Chrysippus

text: Posidonius

text: Epicurus

text: Letters

text: Platonist

text: Latin

text: Letters to Lucilius

text: Friedrich Leo

text: Hercules Furens

text: Apocolocyntosis

text: Attic drama

text: Euripides

text: Virgil

text: Ovid

text: medieval

text: Renaissance

text: Europe

text: universities

text: tragic drama

text: Elizabethan England

text: William Shakespeare

text: Corneille

text: Racine

text: Joost van den Vondel

text: Thomas Kyd

text: The Spanish Tragedy

text: Jacobean era

text: T. S. Eliot

text: letters

text: moral

text: tragedies

text: satire

text: Fabulae crepidatae

text: Hercules

text: Troades

text: Phoenissae

text: Medea

text: Phaedra

text: Oedipus

text: Agamemnon

text: Thyestes

text: Hercules Oetaeus

text: Heinsius

text: Fabula praetexta

text: Octavia

text: Petrarch

text: Lipsius

text: De Providentia

text: De Constantia Sapientis

text: De Ira

text: Ad Marciam, De consolatione

text: De Vita Beata

text: De Otio

text: De Tranquillitate Animi

text: De Brevitate Vitæ

text: De Consolatione ad Polybium

text: Ad Helviam matrem, De consolatione

text: De Clementia

text: Nero

text: clemency

text: virtue

text: De Beneficiis

text: Saint Augustine

text: City of God

text: Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

text: Lucilius Junior

text: Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii

text: Naturales quaestiones

text: cosmology

text: meteorology

text: Cujus etiam ad Paulum apostolum leguntur epistolae

text: Martin of Braga

text: Monteverdi

text: L'incoronazione di Poppea

text: Octavia

text: Nathaniel Lee

text: Robert Bridges

text: Henryk Sienkiewicz

text: Quo Vadis

text: Nicholas Hannen

text: the 1951 film

text: Claudius the God

text: I, Claudius

text: Linda Proud

text: Audio theater

text: Otium

text: "Connections between Seneca and Platonism in Epistulae ad Lucilium 58"

text: "Sénèque au risque du don. Une éthique oblative à la croisée des disciplines"

text: Lucas, F. L.

text: "Seneca and Elizabethan Tragedy"

text: ”Seneca on Death and Immortality“

text: "Seneca on Trial: The Case of the Opulent Stoic"

text: Sevenster, J.N.

text: Novum Testamentum, Supplements

text: Shelton, Jo-Ann

text: "Seneca's Hercules Furens: Theme, Structure and Style"

text: University of California, Berkeley

text: Wilson, Emily

text: Works by Seneca the Younger at Perseus Digital Library

text: 'The Latin Library'

text: Collection of works of Seneca the Younger at Wikisource

text: Seneca's essays and letters in English (at Stoics.com)

text: List of commentaries of Seneca's Letters

text: Incunabula (1478) of Seneca's works in the McCune Collection

text: Seneca's Tragedies and the Elizabethan Drama

text: SORGLL: Seneca, Thyestes 766–804

text: Digitized works by Lucius Annaeus Seneca

text: Biblioteca Digital Hispánica

text: Biblioteca Nacional de España

categories: Roman-era philosophers,1st-century philosophers,Annaei,Political philosophers,0s BC births,Spanish philosophers,People executed by the Roman Empire,Latin letter writers,Roman-era Stoic philosophers,Roman-era satirists,Executed writers,Executed philosophers,1st-century Romans,65 deaths,Ancient Roman tragic dramatists,1st-century executions,Male poets,Roman encyclopedists,Moral philosophers,Male suicides,People from Córdoba, Andalusia,Philosophers who committed suicide,Silver Age Latin writers,Philosophers of Roman Italy,Philosophers of ethics and morality,Latin-language writers,Philosophers of art,Ancient Romans who committed suicide,Forced suicides,Male dramatists and playwrights,Members of the Pisonian conspiracy,Romans from Hispania,1st-century writers,Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome

paragraph: Seneca the Younger

paragraph: Seneca the Younger AD65), fully Lucius Annaeus Seneca and also known simply as Seneca (), was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and—in one work—satirist of the Silver Age of Latin literature.

paragraph: Seneca was born in Córdoba in Hispania, and raised in Rome, where he was trained in rhetoric and philosophy. His father was Seneca the Elder, his elder brother was Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus, and his nephew was the poet Lucan. In AD 41, Seneca was exiled to the island of Corsica by the emperor Claudius, but was allowed to return in 49 to become a tutor to Nero. When Nero became emperor in 54, Seneca became his advisor and, together with the praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus, provided competent government for the first five years of Nero's reign. Seneca's influence over Nero declined with time, and in 64 Seneca was forced to take his own life for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero, in which he was likely to have been innocent. His stoic and calm suicide has become the subject of numerous paintings.

paragraph: As a writer Seneca is known for his philosophical works, and for his plays, which are all tragedies. His prose works include a dozen essays and one hundred and twenty-four letters dealing with moral issues. These writings constitute one of the most important bodies of primary material for ancient Stoicism. As a tragedian, he is best known for plays such as his "Medea", "Thyestes", and "Phaedra". Seneca's influence on later generations is immense—during the Renaissance he was "a sage admired and venerated as an oracle of moral, even of Christian, edification; a master of literary style and a model [for] dramatic art."

paragraph: Section::::Life.

paragraph: Section::::Life.:Early life, family and adulthood.

paragraph: Seneca was born at Córdoba in the Roman province of Baetica in Hispania. His father was Lucius Annaeus Seneca the elder, a Spanish-born Roman knight who had gained fame as a writer and teacher of rhetoric in Rome. Seneca's mother, Helvia, was from a prominent Baetician family. Seneca was the second of three brothers; the others were Lucius Annaeus Novatus (later known as Junius Gallio), and Annaeus Mela, the father of the poet Lucan. Miriam Griffin says in her biography of Seneca that "the evidence for Seneca's life before his exile in 41 is so slight, and the potential interest of these years, for social history as well as for biography, is so great that few writers on Seneca have resisted the temptation to eke out knowledge with imagination." Griffin also infers from the ancient sources that Seneca was born in either 8, 4, or 1 BC. She thinks he was born between 4 and 1 BC and was resident in Rome by AD 5.

paragraph: Seneca tells us that he was taken to Rome in the "arms" of his aunt (his mother's stepsister) at a young age, probably when he was about five years old. His father resided for much of his life in the city. Seneca was taught the usual subjects of literature, grammar, and rhetoric, as part of the standard education of high-born Romans. While still young he received philosophical training from Attalus the Stoic, and from Sotion and Papirius Fabianus, both of whom belonged to the short-lived School of the Sextii, which combined Stoicism with Pythagoreanism. Sotion persuaded Seneca when he was a young man (in his early twenties) to become a vegetarian, which he practised for around a year before his father urged him to desist because the practice was associated with "some foreign rites". Seneca often had breathing difficulties throughout his life, probably asthma, and at some point in his mid-twenties (c. 20 AD) he appears to have been struck down with tuberculosis. He was sent to Egypt to live with his aunt (the same aunt who had brought him to Rome), whose husband Gaius Galerius had become Prefect of Egypt. She nursed him through a period of ill-health that lasted up to ten years. In 31 AD he returned to Rome with his aunt, his uncle dying en route in a shipwreck. His aunt's influence helped Seneca be elected quaestor (probably after 37 AD), which also earned him the right to sit in the Roman Senate.

paragraph: Section::::Life.:Politics and exile.

paragraph: Seneca's early career as a senator seems to have been successful and he was praised for his oratory. Cassius Dio relates a story that Caligula was so offended by Seneca's oratorical success in the Senate that he ordered him to commit suicide. Seneca only survived because he was seriously ill and Caligula was told that he would soon die anyway. In his writings Seneca has nothing good to say about Caligula and frequently depicts him as a monster. Seneca explains his own survival as down to his patience and his devotion to his friends: "I wanted to avoid the impression that all I could do for loyalty was die."

paragraph: In 41 AD, Claudius became emperor, and Seneca was accused by the new empress Messalina of adultery with Julia Livilla, sister to Caligula and Agrippina. The affair has been doubted by some historians, since Messalina had clear political motives for getting rid of Julia Livilla and her supporters. The Senate pronounced a death sentence on Seneca, which Claudius commuted to exile, and Seneca spent the next eight years on the island of Corsica. Two of Seneca's earliest surviving works date from the period of his exile—both consolations. In his "Consolation to Helvia", his mother, Seneca comforts her as a bereaved mother for losing her son to exile. Seneca incidentally mentions the death of his only son, a few weeks before his exile. Later in life Seneca was married to a woman younger than himself, Pompeia Paulina. It has been thought that the infant son may have been from an earlier marriage, but the evidence is "tenuous". Seneca's other work of this period, his "Consolation to Polybius", one of Claudius' freedmen, focused on consoling Polybius on the death of his brother. It is noted for its flattery of Claudius, and Seneca expresses his hope that the emperor will recall him from exile. In 49 AD Agrippina married her uncle Claudius, and through her influence Seneca was recalled to Rome. Agrippina gained the praetorship for Seneca and appointed him tutor to her son, the future emperor Nero.

paragraph: Section::::Life.:Imperial advisor.

paragraph: From AD 54 to 62, Seneca acted as Nero's advisor, together with the praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus. One byproduct of his new position was that Seneca was appointed suffect consul in 56. Seneca's influence was said to have been especially strong in the first year. Seneca composed Nero's accession speeches in which he promised to restore proper legal procedure and authority to the Senate. He also composed the eulogy for Claudius that Nero delivered at the funeral. Seneca's satirical skit "Apocolocyntosis", which lampoons the deification of Claudius and praises Nero dates from the earliest period of Nero's reign. In 55 AD, Seneca wrote "On Clemency" following Nero's murder of Britannicus, perhaps to assure the citizenry that the murder was the end, not the beginning of bloodshed. "On Clemency" is a work which, although it flatters Nero, was intended to show the correct (Stoic) path of virtue for a ruler. Tacitus and Dio suggest that Nero's early rule, during which he listened to Seneca and Burrus, was quite competent. However, the ancient sources suggest that, over time, Seneca and Burrus lost their influence over the emperor. In 59 they had reluctantly agreed to Agrippina's murder, and afterward Tacitus reports that Seneca had to write a letter justifying the murder to the Senate.

paragraph: In 58 AD the senator Publius Suillius Rufus made a series of public attacks on Seneca. These attacks, reported by Tacitus and Cassius Dio, included charges that, in a mere four years of service to Nero, Seneca had acquired a vast personal fortune of three hundred million sestertii by charging high interest on loans throughout Italy and the provinces. Suillius' attacks included claims of sexual corruption, with a suggestion that Seneca had slept with Agrippina. Tacitus, though, reports that Suillius was highly prejudiced: he had been a favourite of Claudius, and had been an embezzler and informant. In response, Seneca brought a series of prosecutions for corruption against Suillius: half of his estate was confiscated and he was sent into exile. However, the attacks reflect a criticism of Seneca that was made at the time and continued through later ages. Seneca was undoubtedly extremely rich: he had properties at Baiae and Nomentum, an Alban villa, and Egyptian estates. Cassius Dio even reports that the Boudica uprising in Britannia was caused by Seneca forcing large loans on the indigenous British aristocracy in the aftermath of Claudius's conquest of Britain, and then calling them in suddenly and aggressively. Seneca was sensitive to such accusations: his "De Vita Beata" ("On the Happy Life") dates from around this time and includes a defense of wealth along Stoic lines, arguing that properly gaining and spending wealth is appropriate behaviour for a philosopher.

paragraph: Section::::Life.:Retirement.

paragraph: After Burrus's death in 62, Seneca's influence declined rapidly. Tacitus reports that Seneca tried to retire twice, in 62 and 64 AD, but Nero refused him on both occasions. Nevertheless, Seneca was increasingly absent from the court. He adopted a quiet lifestyle on his country estates, concentrating on his studies and seldom visiting Rome. It was during these final few years that he composed two of his greatest works: "Naturales quaestiones"—an encyclopedia of the natural world; and his "Letters to Lucilius"—which document his philosophical thoughts.

paragraph: Section::::Life.:Death.

paragraph: In AD 65, Seneca was caught up in the aftermath of the Pisonian conspiracy, a plot to kill Nero. Although it is unlikely that Seneca was part of the conspiracy, Nero ordered him to kill himself. Seneca followed tradition by severing several veins in order to bleed to death, and his wife Pompeia Paulina attempted to share his fate. Cassius Dio, who wished to emphasize the relentlessness of Nero, focused on how Seneca had attended to his last-minute letters, and how his death was hastened by soldiers. A generation after the Julio-Claudian emperors, Tacitus wrote an account of the suicide, which, in view of his Republican sympathies, is perhaps somewhat romanticized. According to this account, Nero ordered Seneca's wife saved. Her wounds were bound up and she made no further attempt to kill herself. As for Seneca himself, his age and diet were blamed for slow loss of blood and extended pain rather than a quick death. He also took poison, which was also not fatal. After dictating his last words to a scribe, and with a circle of friends attending him in his home, he immersed himself in a warm bath, which he expected would speed blood flow and ease his pain. Tacitus wrote, "He was then carried into a bath, with the steam of which he was suffocated, and he was burnt without any of the usual funeral rites. So he had directed in a codicil of his will, even when in the height of his wealth and power he was thinking of life's close."

paragraph: Section::::Legacy.

paragraph: Section::::Legacy.:As a proto-Christian saint.

paragraph: Seneca's writings were well known in the later Roman period, and Quintilian, writing thirty years after Seneca's death, remarked on the popularity of his works amongst the youth. While he found much to admire, Quintillian criticised Seneca for what he regarded as a degenerate literary style—a criticism echoed by Aulus Gellius in the middle of the 2nd century.

paragraph: The early Christian Church was very favorably disposed towards Seneca and his writings, and the church leader Tertullian possessively referred to him as "our Seneca". By the 4th century an apocryphal correspondence with Paul the Apostle had been created linking Seneca into the Christian tradition. The letters are mentioned by Jerome who also included Seneca among a list of Christian writers, and Seneca is similarly mentioned by Augustine. In the 6th century Martin of Braga synthesised Seneca's thought into a couple of treatises that became popular in their own right. Otherwise, Seneca was mainly known through a large number of quotes and extracts in the "florilegia", which were popular throughout the medieval period. When his writings were read in the later Middle Ages, it was mostly his "Letters to Lucilius"—the longer essays and plays being relatively unknown.

paragraph: Medieval writers and works continued to link him to Christianity because of his alleged association with Paul. The "Golden Legend", a 13th-century hagiographical account of famous saints that was widely read, included an account of Seneca's death scene, and erroneously presented Nero as a witness to Seneca's suicide. Dante placed Seneca (alongside Cicero) among the "great spirits" in the First Circle of Hell, or Limbo. Boccaccio, who in 1370 came across the works of Tacitus whilst browsing the library at Montecassino, wrote an account of Seneca's suicide hinting that it was a kind of disguised baptism, or a "de facto" baptism in spirit. Some, such as Albertino Mussato and Giovanni Colonna, went even further and concluded that Seneca must have been a Christian convert.

paragraph: Section::::Legacy.:An improving reputation.

paragraph: Seneca remains one of the few popular Roman philosophers from the period. He appears not only in Dante, but also in Chaucer and to a large degree in Petrarch, who adopted his style in his own essays and who quotes him more than any other authority except Virgil. In the Renaissance, printed editions and translations of his works became common, including an edition by Erasmus and a commentary by John Calvin. John of Salisbury, Erasmus and others celebrated his works. French essayist Montaigne, who gave a spirited defense of Seneca and Plutarch in his "Essays", was himself considered by Pasquier a "French Seneca". Similarly, Thomas Fuller praised Joseph Hall as "our English Seneca". Many who considered his ideas not particularly original, still argued that he was important in making the Greek philosophers presentable and intelligible. His suicide has also been a popular subject in art, from Jacques-Louis David's 1773 painting "The Death of Seneca" to the 1951 film "Quo Vadis".

paragraph: Even with the admiration of an earlier group of intellectual stalwarts, Seneca has never been without his detractors. In his own time, he was accused of hypocrisy or, at least, a less than "Stoic" lifestyle. While banished to Corsica, he wrote a plea for restoration rather incompatible with his advocacy of a simple life and the acceptance of fate. In his "Apocolocyntosis" he ridiculed the behaviors and policies of Claudius, and flattered Nero—such as proclaiming that Nero would live longer and be wiser than the legendary Nestor. The claims of Publius Suillius Rufus that Seneca acquired some "three hundred million "sesterces"" through Nero's favor, are highly partisan, but they reflect the reality that Seneca was both powerful and wealthy. Robin Campbell, a translator of Seneca's letters, writes that the "stock criticism of Seneca right down the centuries [has been]...the apparent contrast between his philosophical teachings and his practice."

paragraph: In 1562 Gerolamo Cardano wrote an "apology" praising Nero in his "Encomium Neronis", printed in Basel. This was likely intended as a mock "encomium", inverting the portrayal of Nero and Seneca that appears in Tacitus. In this work Cardano portrayed Seneca as a crook of the worst kind, an empty rhetorician who was only thinking to grab money and power, after having poisoned the mind of the young emperor. Cardano stated that Seneca well deserved death.

paragraph: Among the historians who have sought to reappraise Seneca is the scholar Anna Lydia Motto who in 1966 argued that the negative image has been based almost entirely on Suillius's account, while many others who might have lauded him have been lost.

paragraph: "We are therefore left with no contemporary record of Seneca's life, save for the desperate opinion of Publius Suillius. Think of the barren image we should have of Socrates, had the works of Plato and Xenophon not come down to us and were we wholly dependent upon Aristophanes' description of this Athenian philosopher. To be sure, we should have a highly distorted, misconstrued view. Such is the view left to us of Seneca, if we were to rely upon Suillius alone."

paragraph: More recent work is changing the dominant perception of Seneca as a mere conduit for pre-existing ideas showing originality in Seneca's contribution to the history of ideas. Examination of Seneca's life and thought in relation to contemporary education and to the psychology of emotions is revealing the relevance of his thought. For example, Martha Nussbaum in her discussion of desire and emotion includes Seneca among the Stoics who offered important insights and perspectives on emotions and their role in our lives. Specifically devoting a chapter to his treatment of anger and its management, she shows Seneca's appreciation of the damaging role of uncontrolled anger, and its pathological connections. Nussbaum later extended her examination to Seneca's contribution to political philosophy showing considerable subtlety and richness in his thoughts about politics, education, and notions of global citizenship—and finding a basis for reform-minded education in Seneca's ideas she used to propose a mode of modern education that avoids both narrow traditionalism and total rejection of tradition. Elsewhere Seneca has been noted as the first great Western thinker on the complex nature and role of gratitude in human relationships.

paragraph: Section::::Philosophy.

paragraph: Seneca was a prolific writer of philosophical works on Stoicism, mostly on ethics, with one work ("Naturales Quaestiones") on the physical world. Stoicism was a popular philosophy in this period, and many upper-class Romans found in it a guiding ethical framework for political involvement. It was once popular to regard Seneca as being very eclectic in his Stoicism, but modern scholarship views him as a fairly orthodox Stoic, albeit a free-minded one. He knew the writings of many of the earlier Stoics: he often mentions Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus; and he frequently cites Posidonius, with whom Seneca shared an interest in natural phenomena. His works contain many references to other ancient philosophers, and it has often been noted that he frequently quotes Epicurus, especially in his "Letters". However, Seneca's interest in Epicurus is mainly limited to using him as a source of ethical maxims. Likewise Seneca shows some interest in Platonist metaphysics, but never with any clear commitment. His surviving moral essays are based on Stoic doctrines, but are formulated in Latin and usually in a non-technical language, thus making them accessible to a wider audience. His works discuss both ethical theory and practical advice, and Seneca stresses that both parts are distinct but interdependent. His "Letters to Lucilius" remain one of his most popular works: by offering ethical guidance, they showcase Seneca's search for ethical perfection.

paragraph: Seneca generally employs a pointed rhetorical style in his prose. His writings focus on traditional themes of Stoic philosophy. The universe is governed for the best by a rational providence, and this must be reconciled with adversity. Seneca regards philosophy as a balm for the wounds of life. The destructive passions, especially anger and grief, must be uprooted, although sometimes he offers advice for moderating them according to reason. He discusses the relative merits of the contemplative life and the active life, and he considers it important to confront one's own mortality and be able to face death. One must be willing to practice poverty and use wealth properly, and he writes about favours, clemency, the importance of friendship, and the need to benefit others.

paragraph: Section::::Drama.

paragraph: Ten plays are attributed to Seneca, of which most likely eight were written by him. The plays stand in stark contrast to his philosophical works. With their intense emotions, and grim overall tone, the plays seem to represent the antithesis of Seneca's Stoic beliefs. Up to the 16th century it was normal to distinguish between Seneca the moral philosopher and Seneca the dramatist as two separate people. Scholars have tried to spot certain Stoic themes: it is the uncontrolled passions that generate madness, ruination, and self-destruction. This has a cosmic as well as an ethical aspect, and fate is a powerful, albeit rather oppressive, force.

paragraph: Many scholars have thought, following the ideas of the 19th-century German scholar Friedrich Leo, that Seneca's tragedies were written for recitation only. Other scholars think that they were written for performance and that it is possible that actual performance had taken place in Seneca's lifetime. Ultimately, this issue cannot be resolved on the basis of our existing knowledge. The tragedies of Seneca have been successfully staged in modern times.

paragraph: The dating of the tragedies is highly problematic in the absence of any ancient references. A parody of a lament from "Hercules Furens" appears in the "Apocolocyntosis", which implies a date before 54 AD for that play. A relative chronology has been suggested on metrical grounds but scholars remain divided. The plays are not all based on the Greek pattern; they have a five-act form and differ in many respects from extant Attic drama, and while the influence of Euripides on some of these works is considerable, so is the influence of Virgil and Ovid.

paragraph: Seneca's plays were widely read in medieval and Renaissance European universities and strongly influenced tragic drama in that time, such as Elizabethan England (William Shakespeare and other playwrights), France (Corneille and Racine), and the Netherlands (Joost van den Vondel). English translations of Seneca's tragedies appeared in print in the mid-16th century, with all ten published collectively in 1581. He is regarded as the source and inspiration for what is known as "Revenge Tragedy", starting with Thomas Kyd's "The Spanish Tragedy" and continuing well into the Jacobean era. "Thyestes" is considered Seneca's masterpiece, and has been described by scholar Dana Gioia as "one of the most influential plays ever written". "Medea" is also highly regarded, and was praised along with "Phaedra" by T. S. Eliot.

paragraph: Section::::Works.

paragraph: Works attributed to Seneca include a dozen philosophical essays, one hundred and twenty-four letters dealing with moral issues, nine tragedies, and a satire, the attribution of which is disputed. His authorship of "Hercules on Oeta" has also been questioned.

paragraph: Section::::Works.:Seneca's tragedies.

paragraph: "Fabulae crepidatae" (tragedies with Greek subjects):

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Hercules" or "Hercules furens" ("The Madness of Hercules")

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Troades" ("The Trojan Women")

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Phoenissae" ("The Phoenician Women")

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Medea"

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Phaedra"

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Oedipus"

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Agamemnon"

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Thyestes"

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Hercules Oetaeus" ("Hercules on Oeta"): generally considered not written by Seneca. First rejected by Heinsius.

paragraph: "Fabula praetexta" (tragedy in Roman setting):

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Octavia": almost certainly not written by Seneca (at least in its final form) since it contains accurate prophecies of both his and Nero’s deaths. This play closely resembles Seneca's plays in style, but was probably written some time after Seneca's death (perhaps under Vespasian) by someone influenced by Seneca and aware of the events of his lifetime. Though attributed textually to Seneca, the attribution was early questioned by Petrarch, and rejected by Lipsius.

paragraph: Section::::Works.:Essays and letters.

paragraph: Section::::Works.:Essays and letters.:Essays.

paragraph: "Traditionally given in the following order:"

paragraph: BULLET::::1. (64) "De Providentia" ("On providence") - addressed to Lucilius

paragraph: BULLET::::2. (55) "De Constantia Sapientis" ("On the Firmness of the Wise Person") - addressed to Serenus

paragraph: BULLET::::3. (41) "De Ira" ("On anger") – A study on the consequences and the control of anger - addressed to his brother Novatus

paragraph: BULLET::::4. (book 2 of the "De Ira")

paragraph: BULLET::::5. (book 3 of the "De Ira")

paragraph: BULLET::::6. (40) "Ad Marciam, De consolatione" ("To Marcia, On Consolation") – Consoles her on the death of her son

paragraph: BULLET::::7. (58) "De Vita Beata" ("On the Happy Life") - addressed to Gallio

paragraph: BULLET::::8. (62) "De Otio" ("On Leisure") - addressed to Serenus

paragraph: BULLET::::9. (63) "De Tranquillitate Animi" ("On tranquillity of mind") - addressed to Serenus

paragraph: BULLET::::10. (49) "De Brevitate Vitæ" ("On the shortness of life") – Essay expounding that any length of life is sufficient if lived wisely - addressed to Paulinus

paragraph: BULLET::::11. (44) "De Consolatione ad Polybium" ("To Polybius, On consolation") – Consoling him on the death of his brother.

paragraph: BULLET::::12. (42) "Ad Helviam matrem, De consolatione" ("To Helvia, On consolation") – Letter to his mother consoling her on his absence during exile.

paragraph: Section::::Works.:Essays and letters.:Other essays.

paragraph: BULLET::::- (56) "De Clementia" ("On Clemency") – written to Nero on the need for clemency as a virtue in an emperor.

paragraph: BULLET::::- (63) "De Beneficiis" ("On Benefits") [seven books]

paragraph: BULLET::::- (?) "De Superstitione" ("On Superstition") -- lost, but quoted from in Saint Augustine's City of God 6.10-6.11.

paragraph: Section::::Works.:Essays and letters.:Letters.

paragraph: BULLET::::- (64) "Epistulae morales ad Lucilium" – collection of 124 letters dealing with moral issues written to Lucilius Junior.

paragraph: Section::::Works.:Essays and letters.:Other.

paragraph: BULLET::::- (54) "Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii" ("The Gourdification of the Divine Claudius"), a satirical work.

paragraph: BULLET::::- (63) "Naturales quaestiones" [seven books] an insight into ancient theories of cosmology, meteorology, and similar subjects.

paragraph: Section::::Works.:Essays and letters.:Spurious.

paragraph: BULLET::::- (58–62/370?) "Cujus etiam ad Paulum apostolum leguntur epistolae:" These letters, allegedly between Seneca and St Paul, were revered by early authorities, but modern scholarship rejects their authenticity.

paragraph: Section::::Works.:"Pseudo-Seneca".

paragraph: Various antique and medieval texts purport to be by Seneca, "e.g.", "De remediis fortuitorum". Their unknown authors are collectively called Pseudo-Seneca. At least some of these seem to preserve and adapt genuine Senecan content, for example, Saint Martin of Braga's (d. c. 580) "Formula vitae honestae", or "De differentiis quatuor virtutumvitae honestae" ("Rules for an Honest Life", or "On the Four Cardinal Virtues"). Early manuscripts preserve Martin's preface, where he makes it clear that this was his adaptation, but in later copies this was omitted, and the work was later thought fully Seneca's work.

paragraph: Section::::Notable fictional portrayals.

paragraph: Seneca is a character in Monteverdi's 1642 opera "L'incoronazione di Poppea" ("The Coronation of Poppea"), which is based on the pseudo-Senecan play, "Octavia". In Nathaniel Lee's 1675 play "Nero, Emperor of Rome", Seneca attempts to dissuade Nero from his egomaniacal plans, but is dragged off to prison, dying off-stage. He appears in Robert Bridges' verse drama "Nero", the second part of which (published 1894) culminates in Seneca's death. Seneca appears in a fairly minor role in Henryk Sienkiewicz's 1896 novel "Quo Vadis" and was played by Nicholas Hannen in the 1951 film. In Robert Graves' 1934 book "Claudius the God", the sequel novel to "I, Claudius", Seneca is portrayed as an unbearable sycophant. He is shown as a flatterer who converts to Stoicism solely to appease Claudius' own ideology. The "Pumpkinification" ("Apocolocyntosis") to Graves thus becomes an unbearable work of flattery to the loathsome Nero mocking a man that Seneca groveled to for years. The historical novel "Chariot of the Soul" by Linda Proud features Seneca as tutor of the young Togidubnus, son of King Verica of the Atrebates, during his ten-year stay in Rome.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Audio theater

paragraph: BULLET::::- Otium

paragraph: Section::::Further reading.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. "Anger, Mercy, Revenge." trans. Robert A. Kast and Martha C. Nussbaum. Chicago, IL. University of Chicago Press, 2010.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. "Hardship and Happiness." trans. Elaine Fantham, Harry M. Hine, James Ker, and Gareth D. Williams. Chicago, IL. University of Chicago Press, 2014.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. "Natural Questions." trans. Harry M. Hine. Chicago, IL. University of Chicago Press, 2010.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. "On Benefits." trans. Miriam Griffin and Brad Inwood. Chicago, IL. University of Chicago Press, 2011.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Cunnally, John, “Nero, Seneca, and the Medallist of the Roman Emperors”, "Art Bulletin", Vol. 68, No. 2 (June 1986), pp. 314–317

paragraph: BULLET::::- Di Paola, O. (2015), "Connections between Seneca and Platonism in Epistulae ad Lucilium 58", Athens: ATINER'S Conference Paper Series, No: PHI2015-1445.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Inwood, Brad, "Reading Seneca. Stoic Philosophy at Rome", Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Degand, Martin, "Sénèque au risque du don. Une éthique oblative à la croisée des disciplines", Turnhout: Brepols, 2015.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Lucas, F. L., "Seneca and Elizabethan Tragedy" (Cambridge University Press, 1922; paperback 2009, ); on Seneca the man, his plays, and the influence of his tragedies on later drama.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Motto, Anna Lydia, ”Seneca on Death and Immortality“, "The Classical Journal", Vol. 50, No. 4 (Jan., 1955), pp. 187–189

paragraph: BULLET::::- Motto, Anna Lydia, "Seneca on Trial: The Case of the Opulent Stoic", "The Classical Journal", Vol. 61, No. 6 (March 1966), pp. 254–258

paragraph: BULLET::::- Mitchell, David. "Legacy: The Apocryphal Correspondence between Seneca and Paul" Xlibris Corporation 2010

paragraph: BULLET::::- Sevenster, J.N., "Paul and Seneca", Novum Testamentum, Supplements, Vol. 4, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1961; a comparison of Seneca and the apostle Paul, who were contemporaries.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Shelton, Jo-Ann, "Seneca's Hercules Furens: Theme, Structure and Style", Göttingen : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1978. . A revision of the author's doctoral thesis at the University of California, Berkeley, 1974.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Wilson, Emily, "Seneca: Six Tragedies." Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford University Press, 2010.

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Works by Seneca the Younger at Perseus Digital Library

paragraph: BULLET::::- Original texts of Seneca's works at 'The Latin Library'

paragraph: BULLET::::- Collection of works of Seneca the Younger at Wikisource

paragraph: BULLET::::- Seneca's essays and letters in English (at Stoics.com)

paragraph: BULLET::::- List of commentaries of Seneca's Letters

paragraph: BULLET::::- Incunabula (1478) of Seneca's works in the McCune Collection

paragraph: BULLET::::- Seneca's Tragedies and the Elizabethan Drama

paragraph: BULLET::::- SORGLL: Seneca, Thyestes 766–804, read by Katharina Volk, Columbia University. Society for the Oral reading of Greek and Latin Literature (SORGLL)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Digitized works by Lucius Annaeus Seneca at Biblioteca Digital Hispánica, Biblioteca Nacional de España

alias:
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Seneca the Younger
the Younger Seneca
Lucio Anneo Seneca
Annaeus Seneca
Seneka
Lucius Annaeus Seneca minor

description: Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist

enwikiquote_title: Seneca the Younger

wikidata_label: Seneca

wikipedia_title: Seneca the Younger


text: Western Roman Emperor

text: Late Roman army

text: Avitus

text: Western Roman Empire

text: Italy

text: Dalmatia

text: Gaul

text: barbarian

text: Eastern Roman court

text: Vandal

text: Visigothic Kingdom

text: Theodoric II

text: Battle of Arelate

text: Septimania

text: Hispania

text: federate

text: Burgundian Kingdom

text: Siege of Lugdunum

text: Rhone

text: Suebic Kingdom

text: Lucus Augusti

text: Scallabis

text: Africa

text: Ricimer

text: Edward Gibbon

text: Hydatius

text: Marcellinus Comes

text: Priscus

text: John of Antioch

text: Sidonius Apollinaris

text: panegyric

text: Alaric II

text: magister militum

text: Theodosius I

text: Sirmium

text: Aetius

text: Suevi

text: Visigoth

text: Ricimer

text: Gallo-Roman

text: Aegidius

text: Tours

text: Franks

text: Clodio

text: Valentinian III

text: Placidia

text: Huneric

text: Attila

text: Gaudentius

text: Sidonius Apollinaris

text: Licinia Eudoxia

text: Ricimer

text: Petronius Maximus

text: comes domesticorum

text: Vandal

text: sack of Rome

text: Avitus

text: Visigoths

text: Remistus

text: Ravenna

text: Placentia

text: Avitus

text: Marcian

text: Leo I

text: magister militum

text: patricius

text: Alemanni

text: Raetia

text: Lake Maggiore

text: defeated

text: Ravenna

text: Aetius

text: panegyric

text: Sidonius Apollinaris

text: Avitus

text: Visigoths

text: Olybrius

text: Vandal

text: Genseric

text: Italy

text: Gaul

text: Avitus

text: Hispania

text: Africa

text: Vandals

text: Genseric

text: Campania

text: Liri

text: Garigliano

text: Roman army

text: victory

text: Sinuessa

text: Valentinian III

text: chariot races

text: Gepids

text: Ostrogoths

text: Rugii

text: Burgundians

text: Huns

text: Bastarnae

text: Suebi

text: Scythians

text: Alans

text: Gaul

text: Avitus

text: Lugdunum

text: Lyon

text: Leo I

text: Burgundians

text: Gondioc

text: Ricimer

text: Aegidius

text: Nepotianus

text: Visigoths

text: Theodoric II

text: Battle of Arelate

text: Septimania

text: Aquitania

text: Hispania

text: federate

text: magister militum

text: Rhone Valley

text: Burgundians

text: Lugdunum

text: Bagaudae

text: Sidonius Apollinaris

text: Vandal

text: sack of Rome (455)

text: Avitus

text: Africa

text: grain supply to the city of Rome

text: Procopius

text: Genseric

text: comes

text: patricius

text: Marcellinus

text: Huns

text: Illyricum

text: Aetius

text: Suebi

text: Nepotianus

text: Sunieric

text: Liguria

text: Aquitaine

text: Novempopulania

text: Toulouse

text: Genseric

text: Mauretania

text: Lugo

text: Lusitania

text: Santarém, Portugal

text: Saragossa

text: adventus

text: Carthaginiensis

text: Elche

text: Arelate

text: Roman law

text: Alaric II

text: Roman Senate

text: Ravenna

text: Basilius

text: Praetorian prefect of Italy

text: Leo I

text: praefectus urbi

text: Curiales

text: Ricimer

text: decurions

text: Julian

text: comes

text: decurion

text: gold

text: silver

text: bronze

text: combat helmet

text: chi-rho

text: Ravenna

text: Honorius

text: solidi

text: Leo I

text: mints

text: Milan

text: tremisses

text: semisses

text: Rome

text: Arelate

text: Visigoths

text: Arelate

text: Aegidius

text: Libius Severus

text: nummi

text: contorniate

text: Praetorian prefect of Italy

text: Caecina Decius Basilius

text: Avitus

text: consuls

text: augusti

text: magister militum

text: Ricimer

text: Magnus

text: Severinus

text: Praetorian prefect of Gaul

text: Praetorian prefect of Italy

text: Caecina Decius Basilius

text: Sidonius Apollinaris

text: Arelate

text: Vandals

text: praefectus urbi

text: Avitus

text: Ricimer

text: patricius

text: magister militum

text: Arelate

text: Vandals

text: Rome

text: Tortona

text: Piacenza

text: Iria

text: Tortona

text: Libius Severus

text: Leo I

text: Aegidius

text: Gaul

text: Marcellinus

text: Sicily

text: Illyria

text: Nepotianus

text: Hispania

text: Edward Gibbon

text: Encyclopædia Britannica

text: Hydatius

text: John of Antioch

text: Jordanes

text: Getica

text: Marcellinus Comes

text: Priscus

text: Procopius

text: Sidonius Apollinaris

text: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

text: "Julius Valerius Maiorianus (18 February/28 December 457 – 2/7 August 461)"

categories: 420 births,Valerii,Magistri militum,Deaths by decapitation,Flavii,5th-century Roman emperors,5th-century murdered monarchs,461 deaths,Imperial Roman consuls,Julii,Murdered Roman emperors

paragraph: Majorian

paragraph: Flavius Julius Valerius Majorianus (c. AD 420 – August 7, 461), usually known simply as Majorian, was the Western Roman Emperor from 457 to 461.

paragraph: A prominent general of the Late Roman army, Majorian deposed Emperor Avitus in 457 and succeeded him. Majorian was the last emperor to make a concerted effort to restore the Western Roman Empire with its own forces. Possessing little more than Italy, Dalmatia, and some territory in northern Gaul, Majorian campaigned rigorously for three years against the Empire's enemies. His successors until the fall of the Empire, in 476/480, were actually instruments of their barbarian generals, or emperors chosen and controlled by the Eastern Roman court.

paragraph: After defeating a Vandal attack on Italy, Majorian launched a campaign against the Visigothic Kingdom in southern Gaul. Defeating king Theodoric II at the Battle of Arelate, Majorian forced the Goths to abandon their possessions in Septimania and Hispania and return to federate status immediately. Majorian then attacked the Burgundian Kingdom, defeating them at the Siege of Lugdunum, expelling them from the Rhone valley and reducing them to federate status.

paragraph: In 460, Majorian left Gaul to consolidate his hold on Hispania. His generals launched a campaign against the Suebic Kingdom in northwest Hispania, defeating them at the battles of Lucus Augusti and Scallabis and reducing them to federate status as well. His fleet for his planned campaign to recover Africa from the Vandals was destroyed due to treachery.

paragraph: Majorian sought to reform the imperial administration in order to make it more efficient and just. The powerful general Ricimer deposed and killed Majorian, who had become unpopular with the senatorial aristocracy because of his reforms.

paragraph: Section::::Early life.

paragraph: The life of Majorian and his reign are better known than those of the other Western Emperors of the same period. The most important sources are the chronicles that cover the second half of the 5th century — those of Hydatius and Marcellinus Comes, as well as the fragments of Priscus and John of Antioch.

paragraph: Besides these sources, which are useful also for the biographies of the other emperors, some peculiar sources are available that make Majorian's life known in some detail, both before and after his rise to the throne. The Gallo-Roman aristocrat and poet Sidonius Apollinaris was an acquaintance of the Emperor and composed a panegyric that is the major source for Majorian's life up to 459. As regards his policy, twelve of his laws have been preserved: the so-called "Novellae Maioriani" were included in the "Breviarium" that was compiled for the Visigothic king Alaric II in 506, and help to understand the problems that pressed Majorian's government.

paragraph: Majorian was probably born after 420, as in 458 he is defined as a "iuvenis", a "young man". He belonged to the military aristocracy of the Roman Empire. His grandfather of the same name reached the rank of "magister militum" under Emperor Theodosius I and, as commander-in-chief of the Illyrian army, was present at his coronation at Sirmium in 379. The daughter of the "magister militum" then married an officer, probably called Domninus, who administered the finances of Aetius, the powerful "magister militum" of the West. The couple gave the name "Maiorianus" to their child in honour of his influential grandfather.

paragraph: It was under the same Aetius that Majorian started his military career. He followed Aetius to Gallia, where he met under Aetius' command two officers who were to play an important role in Majorian's life: the Suevic-Visigoth Ricimer and the Gallo-Roman Aegidius. Majorian distinguished himself in the defence of the city of Turonensis (modern Tours) and in a battle against the Franks of king Clodio, near "Vicus Helena" (447 or 448). In the latter, Majorian fought at the head of his cavalry on a bridge, while Aetius controlled the roads leading to the battlefield:

paragraph: Around 450, the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III considered the possibility of marrying his daughter Placidia to Majorian. Valentinian had two daughters and no sons, and therefore no heir to the throne. Having Majorian as son-in-law would have strengthened Valentinian in the face of other powerful generals and would have solved the problem of the succession. Furthermore, as Emperor, Majorian could have led the army himself, freed from the dangerous bond with a powerful general, such as Valentinian had been obliged to contract with Aetius.

paragraph: The intention of this plan was to avoid the possibility that barbarian generals like Huneric or Attila should succeed to Aetius, but clashed with the plans of Aetius himself. The Roman general, in fact, planned to marry his own son Gaudentius to Placidia. He therefore opposed Valentinian's plan, and put an end to Majorian's military career, expelling him from his staff and sending him to his country estate. According to the poet Sidonius Apollinaris, the cause of the fall of Majorian was the jealousy of Aetius' wife, who feared that Majorian could overshadow Aetius' prestige.

paragraph: It was only in 454 that Majorian was able to return to public life. In that year, Valentinian III killed Aetius with his own hands but, fearing that Aetius' troops might revolt, called Majorian back to office to quell them. In the following year, Valentinian III was killed by two former officers of Aetius' staff. There was then a fight for the succession, as no heir existed. Majorian played the role of the candidate for the throne of Licinia Eudoxia, Valentinian's widow, and of Ricimer, who reserved for himself a role similar to Aetius'.

paragraph: In the end, the new Emperor was Petronius Maximus, a senator involved in Valentinian's murder, who outmanoeuvred the other candidates. To strengthen his position, he obliged Licinia to marry him and promoted Majorian to the rank of "comes domesticorum" (commander-in-chief of the imperial guard).

paragraph: Petronius ruled only for a few weeks, as he was killed during the Vandal sack of Rome (May 455). He was succeeded, not by Majorian, but by the Gallic-Roman noble Avitus, who had the support of the Visigoths. Both Majorian, "comes domesticorum", and Ricimer, "comes", initially supported Avitus, but when the Emperor lost the loyalty of the Italian aristocracy, the two generals revolted against him. First Majorian and Ricimer killed Remistus, the "magister militum" entrusted by Avitus with the defence of the capital, Ravenna. Then Ricimer defeated Avitus' troops near Placentia, taking the Emperor himself prisoner, and obliging him to abdicate. Finally, Majorian caused Avitus' death, possibly starving him, in early 457.

paragraph: Section::::Rise to the throne.

paragraph: Avitus was dead and the Western throne without a pretender. It was thus for the Eastern Roman Emperor to choose the successor, but Marcian could do nothing, as he died on January 27, 457. His successor on the Eastern throne was the general Leo I, who did not, however, select a colleague for the West, possibly because he intended to reign alone. On the other hand, Leo rewarded both Majorian and Ricimer: the former was appointed "magister militum", the latter "patricius" and "magister militum" (February 28, 457).

paragraph: While the situation was in a precarious equilibrium, a troop of 900 Alemanni invaded Italy. They entered from Raetia and penetrated Italian territory down to Lake Maggiore. There they were intercepted and defeated by the troops of "comes" Burco, sent by Majorian to stop them:

paragraph: This victory was celebrated as Majorian's own, and the "magister militum" was acclaimed Emperor by the army on April 1, six miles outside Ravenna, at a place called "ad Columellas", "at the Little Columns". There were actually two "magistri militum" to choose between, Majorian and Ricimer, but the barbarian origin of the latter barred him from the throne. Ricimer could, however, expect to exert a great influence on the new Western Emperor, because of their relationship dating back to the time of their service under Aetius and because of his control of the army as "magister militum".

paragraph: In his panegyric to Majorian, the poet Sidonius Apollinaris tells that Majorian initially refused the election:

paragraph: Modern historians think that it was Leo I who initially refused to recognize Majorian as his colleague, although the general chosen by the army must have seemed the only viable candidate to the throne. The Eastern court was not displeased with the deposition of Avitus, an Emperor chosen by the Visigoths, whereas the only other candidate, Olybrius, had a politically difficult relationship with the Vandal king Genseric and no influence on the army. Despite this, the approval by the Eastern court of Majorian's election came late, as the new Emperor was actually crowned only on December 28. Leo I and Majorian jointly assumed the consulate for the year 458; it was customary that a new Emperor took this magistracy on the first year started as Emperor.

paragraph: Section::::Foreign affairs.

paragraph: Section::::Foreign affairs.:Defence of Italy.

paragraph: The first problems Majorian had to handle were the consolidation of his rule over Italy and the recovery of Gaul, since this province had rebelled after the deposition of the Gallo-Roman emperor Avitus. The recovery of the lost provinces of Hispania and Africa was a project that Majorian had to leave for later.

paragraph: In summer 458, a group of Vandals, led by the brother-in-law of Genseric, landed in Campania, at the mouth of the Liri or the Garigliano river, and started devastating and sacking the region. Majorian personally led the Roman army to a victory over the invaders near Sinuessa and followed the defeated Vandals, loaded with their booty, as far as their own ships, killing many of them including their commander.

paragraph: After this event, Majorian understood that he had to take the initiative, if he wanted to defend the heart of his Empire, the only territory he actually controlled. So he decided to strengthen its defences. First, he issued a law, the "Novella Maioriani" 8 known as "De reddito iure armorum" ("On the Return of the Right to Bear Arms"), concerning the personal right to bear arms; in 440 Valentinian III had already promulgated a law with the same name, "Novella Valentiniani" 9, after another attack of the Vandals. It is probably to this time that another law is to be dated, the "Novella Maioriani" 12 known as "De aurigis et seditiosis" ("Concerning Charioteers and Seditious Persons"), to quell the disorders that sprang up during the chariot races. Both these laws are now lost.

paragraph: He then strengthened the army, recruiting a large number of barbarian mercenaries, including Gepids, Ostrogoths, Rugii, Burgundians, Huns, Bastarnae, Suebi, Scythians and Alans. Finally, he rebuilt two fleets, probably those of Miseno and Ravenna, since the Vandals had a strong navy:

paragraph: Section::::Foreign affairs.:Re-conquest of Gaul.

paragraph: After consolidating his position in Italy, Majorian concentrated on the recovery of Gaul. When news of the deposition of the Gallo-Roman emperor Avitus arrived in Gaul, the province refused to recognize Majorian as his successor. An important clue to this is an inscription found in Lugdunum (modern Lyons) and dating to 458: according to Roman custom, the inscriptions were dated reporting the name of the consuls in office, who that year were Leo I and Majorian. This inscription, instead, records only the name of Eastern Emperor, showing that Majorian was not recognized as lawful Emperor.

paragraph: Another clue is the fact that, at the death of Avitus, the citizens of Lugdunum had allowed the Burgundians of king Gondioc to occupy the city, and that they sent an envoy to Leo, and not to Majorian, to ask for a reduction of taxation. Finally, there is a record of a failed usurpation in Gaul, around this time.

paragraph: In late 458, Majorian entered Gaul, with an army strengthened by barbarian units. The Emperor personally led the army, leaving Ricimer in Italy and choosing Aegidius and the "magister militiae" Nepotianus as collaborators. The imperial army defeated the Visigoths under king Theodoric II at the Battle of Arelate, forcing the Visigoths to abandon Septimania and withdraw west to Aquitania. The Roman victory was decisive: under the new treaty the Visigoths had to relinquish their vast conquests in Hispania and return to federate status. Majorian chose his trusted general Aegidius as the new "magister militum per Gallias" (military commander of Gaul) and sent an envoy to Hispania, to report the victory over the Visigoths and the new treaty with Theodoric II.

paragraph: With the help of his new "foederati", Majorian entered the Rhone Valley, conquering its populations "some by arms and some by diplomacy". He defeated the Burgundians and besieged and conquered the city of Lugdunum: the rebel city was heavily fined, while the Bagaudae were forced to join the Empire. Despite the fact that the Gallo-Roman aristocracy had sided with Avitus, Majorian wanted a reconciliation, not a punishment. With the intercession of Majorian's "magister epistolarum" Petrus, Sidonius Apollinaris, the son-in-law of Avitus, was allowed to deliver a panegyric in honour of the Emperor (early January 459), receiving in reward the appointment to the rank of "comes spectabilis". Much more effective was, however, the granting of the tax remission that the citizens of Lugdunum had requested from Leo I.

paragraph: Section::::Foreign affairs.:Campaign in Hispania.

paragraph: In the wake of the Vandal sack of Rome (455), the Visigoths had conquered Hispania, formally in the name of the new Western Emperor Avitus, actually controlling the territory themselves. Majorian planned to reconquer Hispania and use it as the base for the conquest of Africa. This rich province of the Western Empire, which provided for the very important grain supply to the city of Rome, was in fact under Vandal control.

paragraph: According to the historian Procopius, Majorian, "who surpassed in every virtue all who have ever been emperors of the Romans", wanted to know personally the military readiness of the Vandals and how the local populations would react to the Roman invasion. He dyed black his fair hair, for which he was famous, and went to Genseric claiming to be an envoy of the Western Emperor. Genseric tried to impress the enemy ambassador by showing him the arms collected in the warehouses and sent him back. This story is probably only a legend of Italian folklore, but it is a clue to the care with which the expedition was prepared. Majorian collected information on the enemy and gathered a fleet of three hundred ships to support the army in the reconquest of Hispania and in the invasion of Africa.

paragraph: It was probably during the preparation of this operation that Majorian sent the "comes" and "patricius Occidentis" Marcellinus to Sicily with an army of Huns, to take the island back from the Vandals. Marcellinus was the "comes rei militaris" (governor) of Illyricum, but he had become practically independent since the death of Aetius, not recognizing the imperial authority. Majorian convinced him to accept him as Emperor and even to collaborate with his troops in the military recovery of the Empire.

paragraph: The campaign started with an operation against the Suebi in North-Western Hispania, lasting the whole of 459, led by the "magister militiae" Nepotianus and the Gothic "comes" Sunieric. Majorian gathered the main part of the army in Liguria, then entered Aquitaine and "Novempopulania" coming from Theodoric's court in Toulouse (May 460). Genseric, fearing the Roman invasion, tried to negotiate a peace with Majorian, who rejected the proposal. The Vandal king then decided to devastate Mauretania, his own territory, because he thought that the Roman army would land there, and also ordered his navy to prepare incursions in the waters near the probable invasion area.

paragraph: In the meantime, Majorian was conquering Hispania. While Nepotianus and Sunieric defeated the Suebi at "Lucus Augusti" (modern Lugo) and conquered "Scallabis" in Lusitania (modern Santarém, Portugal), the Emperor passed through "Caesaraugusta" (Saragossa), where he performed a formal imperial "adventus". Finally he reached Carthaginiensis, where his fleet, docked at "Portus Illicitanus" (near Elche), was destroyed by traitors paid by the Vandals:

paragraph: Majorian, deprived of the fleet that was necessary for the invasion, cancelled the attack on the Vandals. He received the ambassadors of Genseric, with whom he agreed to conclude peace, which probably included the recognition of the "de facto" occupation of Mauretania by the Vandals. On his way back to Italy, the Emperor stopped at Arelate.

paragraph: Section::::Domestic policy.

paragraph: Majorian's domestic policy is known thanks to some of the laws he issued, the so-called "Novellae Maioriani", that were included in a collection of Roman law entitled "Breviarium", requested from some Gallo-Roman jurists in 506 by the Visigothic king Alaric II .

paragraph: The preserved laws are:

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Novella Maioriani" 1, "De ortu imperii domini Majoriani Augusti", "The Beginning of the Reign of Our Lord Majorian Augustus", opening speech of his reign, addressed to the Roman Senate (given in Ravenna, on January 11, 458);

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Novella Maioriani" 2, "De indulgentiis reliquorum", "On the Remission of Past-Due Accounts" (given in Ravenna, on March 11, 458, to Basilius, Praetorian prefect of Italy);

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Novella Maioriani" 3, "De defensoribus civitatum", "The Defenders of the Municipalities", on the office of "defensor civitatum" (given in Ravenna, on May 8, 458, also in the name of Leo I);

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Novella Maioriani" 4, "De aedificiis pubblicis", "Public Buildings", on the preservation of the monuments of Rome (given in Ravenna, on July 11, 458, to Aemilianus, "praefectus urbi" of Rome, also in the name of Leo I);

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Novella Maioriani" 5, "De bonis caducis sive proscriptorum", "On Abandoned Property and That of Proscribed Persons" (given in Ravenna, on September 4, 458, to Ennodius, "comes privatae largitionis", also in the name of Leo I);

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Novella Maioriani" 6, "De sanctimonialibus vel viduis et de successionibus earum", "Holy Maidens, Widows, and Their Succession" (given in Ravenna, on October 26, 458, to Basilius, Praetorian prefect of Italy, also in the name of Leo I);

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Novella Maioriani" 7, "De curialibus et de agnatione vel distractione praediorum et de ceteris negotiis", "Curiales, Their Children and The Sale of Their Landed Estates" (given in Ravenna, on November 6, 458, to Basilius, Praetorian prefect of Italy, also in the name of Leo I);

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Novella Maioriani" 8, "De reddito iure armorum", "On the Return of the Right to Bear Arms", whose text is lost;

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Novella Maioriani" 9, "De adulteriis", "Adultery", confirming that the adulterers are to be put to death (given in Arelate, on April 17, 459, to Rogatianus, governor of Suburbicarian Tuscany, also in the name of Leo I);

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Novella Maioriani" 10, about the right of the Roman senators and of the Church to keep the goods received in a will, whose text is lost;

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Novella Maioriani" 11, "De episcopali iudicio et ne quis invitus clericus ordinetur vel de ceteris negotiis", "Episcopal Courts; No Person Shall Be Ordained A Cleric Against His Will; Various Matters", (given in Arelate, on March 28, 460, to Ricimer, also in the name of Leo I);

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Novella Maioriani" 12, "De aurigis et seditiosis", "Charioteers and Seditious Persons", whose text is lost.

paragraph: Section::::Domestic policy.:Fiscal policy and coinage.

paragraph: Majorian understood that he could reign effectively only with the support of the senatorial aristocracy, whom he wanted to return to its pristine political prominence. At the same time, he planned to reduce the abuses perpetrated by the senators, many of whom cultivated their local interests disregarding the imperial policies, even refusing to pay taxes and keeping for themselves the taxes they had exacted. This fiscal evasion had a cascade effect that affected the small landowners, the citizens and the local civil magistrates.

paragraph: For example, the decurions had personally to compensate the imperial treasury for all taxes not exacted. Sometimes, oppressed by the debts accumulated in this way, the decurions abandoned their status, a problem already addressed by Emperor Julian (361–363). Majorian also cancelled tax arrears, knowing that fiscal policy could not be effective if taxpayers had to pay large accumulated arrears.

paragraph: On March 11, 458, Majorian issued a law entitled "De indulgentiis reliquorum", "On the Remission of Past-Due Accounts" ("Novella Maioriani" 2). This law remitted all the tax arrears of the landowners. This same law explicitly prohibited public administrators, who had a record of keeping the collected money for themselves, from collecting taxes. This task was to be reserved to the governors alone. Another law issued to reorganise the tax system was issued on September 4 of the same year, and was entitled "De bonis caducis sive proscriptorum", "On Abandoned Property and That of Proscribed Persons" ("Novella Maioriani" 5): the "comes privatae largitionis" Ennodius was to admonish the provincial judges against defrauding the imperial treasure by keeping for themselves a part of the money collected.

paragraph: The Emperor was also interested in repairing the backbone of the imperial administration. On 8 May 458, Majorian issued a law entitled "De defensoribus civitatum", "The Defenders of the Municipalities" ("Novella Maioriani" 3), to re-establish the office of the "defensor civitatis". This city magistrate represented the interests of the citizens in trials against the public administration, particularly in fiscal matters; this magistracy was still in existence, but actually ineffective, since it was often held by the same officials who cheated the population.

paragraph: Another law was issued on November 6 to strengthen the magistracy of the decurions. "De curialibus et de agnatione vel distractione praediorum et de ceteris negotiis", "Decurions, Their Children and The Sale of Their Landed Estates" ("Novella Maioriani" 7), was issued to forgive past abuses perpetrated by the decurions. This forbade them from leaving their status (going into hiding or marrying slave or tenant farmers) or alienating their own properties.

paragraph: Majorian minted coins in gold, silver and bronze. Gold coinage was minted in great quantities. On these coins the Emperor is depicted, with few exceptions, with a combat helmet, a spear, a shield and a chi-rho, looking towards right; this typology was derived from a rare type minted in Ravenna for Honorius and used in great quantities only by Majorian, while it was dropped by his successors. The first series of solidi were minted probably in Ravenna, and bear at the obverse the joint portrait of Majorian and Leo I, thus celebrating the mutual recognition of the two Roman emperors. The mints of Ravenna and Milan issued both solidi and tremisses from the beginning of Majorian's reign.

paragraph: No series of semisses are attested for these two mints, probably because the semisses were typically minted by the mint of Rome and this mint was not active under Majorian, who never visited the ancient capital of his Empire during his four years of rule. The minting of solidi is attested for the mint of Arelate in 458, a fact compatible with the presence of Majorian in Gaul in that year. This mint was again active in 460, when the Emperor returned from his campaign in Hispania. The Visigoths minted some reproductions of his solidi, modelled after the issues of the Arelate mint: as Arelate issued only solidi, the Visigoths used those designs also for the tremissis.

paragraph: Silver coinage was issued almost exclusively by the Gallic mints; it has been suggested that these series were not issued by Majorian, but by Aegidius after the Emperor's death, to mark the fact that he did not recognize his successor, Libius Severus. Majorian also produced great quantities of nummi of great weight, mostly minted at Ravenna and Milan, and some contorniates, mostly in Rome, but probably also in Ravenna.

paragraph: Section::::Domestic policy.:Natalist policies.

paragraph: The diffusion of Christianity in the Empire caused some social changes within the aristocratic families. In several wealthy families, daughters were obliged to take religious vows and never marry, so that the family wealth would not be dispersed in dowries. Majorian thought that this behaviour was harmful to the State, because it reduced the number of Roman children, and because it caused the girls to start illicit affairs. On October 26, 458, the Emperor addressed a law, the "Novella Maioriani" 6, to the Praetorian prefect of Italy, Caecina Decius Basilius.

paragraph: This law, titled "De sanctimonialibus vel viduis et de successionibus earum" ("Holy Maidens, Widows, and Their Succession"), imposed a minimum age of 40 for taking religious vows, considering that at this age the sexual drives of the initiated would be dormant. The law also granted women who had been forced to take religious vows, and were subsequently disinherited, the same rights on the legacy of parents as their brothers and sisters.

paragraph: In order to solve this same problem of the decline of the Roman population, in particular compared with the growth of the barbarians allocated within the imperial boundaries, Majorian addressed the problem of young women widowed and without children who never remarried because of the influence of the clergy, to whom they destined their goods in their will. The young widows were prohibited from taking religious vows.

paragraph: By the same measure, departing in this from the policy of the Eastern Empire, Majorian insisted that a marriage without dowry and pre-wedding exchange of gifts (first from the bride's family to the groom, then in the opposite direction) was invalid; he simultaneously ended the practice of requesting pre-wedding gifts of a value considerably higher than the dowry.

paragraph: Section::::Domestic policy.:Relationship with the senatorial aristocracy.

paragraph: When Majorian took power by deposing Avitus, the province of Gaul, where Avitus' power was based, did not recognize the new Emperor. When Majorian re-conquered the province, he chose to forgive this rebellion. The reason was that Majorian understood that one of the mistakes of his predecessor was to promote and trust only the senatorial aristocracy of Gaul, the region he came from, favouring it over the senatorial aristocracy of Italy.

paragraph: Majorian, instead, decided to gain the favour of the wealthy and noble families of the recovered province by involving them in the imperial administration, together with the Italian aristocracy that had supported him since the beginning. For evidence of this policy, one can point to the origins of the high civil servants of his administration, in particular of the consuls, whom the Emperor appointed jointly with his Eastern colleague.

paragraph: In the first year (458) Majorian reserved the honour for himself, as was usual for the "augusti", while in the second year he appointed his former colleague and powerful "magister militum", Ricimer. Then, for the year 460, he choose the Gallic senator Magnus, and for the next year the Italian senator Severinus. Magnus had been appointed Praetorian prefect of Gaul in 458, while the Praetorian prefect of Italy was Caecina Decius Basilius, who was the patron of the Gallic senator (and poet) Sidonius Apollinaris, while the "comes privatae largitionis", Ennodius, was related to a family with interests in Arelate.

paragraph: Majorian also showed great respect towards the Roman senate, as suggested by the message he addressed to it on the eve of his coronation: he promised the senators he would not take into account the accusations of informers, which were much feared as they might be used by the Emperor to cause the fall of influential figures. He followed through on his promises, as told by Sidonius Apollinaris, who had been anonymously accused of the authorship of a pamphlet against some influential figures: during a dinner together, Majorian defused the risky situation with a witticism.

paragraph: Section::::Domestic policy.:Conservation of the monuments of Rome.

paragraph: From the beginning of the 4th century, the monuments of Rome, and more generally all buildings of some value that were in a state of neglect for various reasons, were increasingly used as quarries for valuable building materials. This practice, in fact, was cheaper and more convenient than import from remote locations, which was sometimes rendered difficult or impossible by the control of the sea by the Vandals. Roman officials conceded upon petition the use for construction of marble, stone and brick recovered from demolition of ancient monuments:

paragraph: To cope with this phenomenon, Majorian promulgated a law, "Novella Maioriani" 4, "De aedificiis pubblicis" ("Public Buildings"), in Ravenna on July 11, 459, addressed to Aemilianus, "praefectus urbi" of Rome. The punishment for judges who had allowed the destruction of ancient public buildings was 50 pounds of gold, while their subordinates were whipped and had both hands amputated. Those who had removed materials from public buildings were to return them. The Senate had the power to decide whether there were extreme conditions that justified the demolition of an old building and, if it decided for the demolition, the Emperor still had the right to order that the resulting materials should be used to decorate other public buildings.

paragraph: Section::::Fall and death.

paragraph: Just as Avitus had been betrayed by Ricimer and Majorian and by the dismissal of his German guard, so the fate of Majorian himself was decided by the disbandment of his army and a plot organized by Ricimer. In fact, while the Emperor was busy away from Italy, the barbarian "patricius et magister militum" had gathered around himself the aristocratic opposition to his former comrade with whom, just a few years earlier, he had cultivated dreams of power. Majorian's legislation had shown that he intended to intervene decisively on issues that plagued the empire, even if they countered the interests of influential aristocrats.

paragraph: After spending some time at Arelate, his base at the end of the operation against the Vandals in Hispania, Majorian disbanded his barbarian mercenaries and, accompanied by some guards, set off to Rome, where he intended to carry out reforms. Ricimer went to meet Majorian with a military detachment; the "magister militum" met the Emperor near Tortona (not far from Piacenza, where Avitus had been killed), and had him arrested and deposed (August 3).

paragraph: The Emperor was deprived of his dress and diadem, beaten and tortured. After five days, Majorian was beheaded near the river Iria (August 7, 461): He was about forty years old and had reigned for four years. The city of Tortona now hosts, in the church of St. Matthew, a building traditionally identified as the "mausoleum of Majorian".

paragraph: After the death of Majorian, Ricimer waited for three months before placing on the imperial throne a person he believed he could manipulate. He finally chose Libius Severus, a senator of no political distinction, probably selected to please the Italian senatorial aristocracy. The new emperor was not recognized by the Eastern Emperor Leo I, nor by any of the generals who had served under Majorian: not by Aegidius in Gaul, not by Marcellinus in Sicily and Illyria, and not by Nepotianus in Hispania.

paragraph: Section::::Legacy.

paragraph: According to historian Edward Gibbon, Majorian "presents the welcome discovery of a great and heroic character, such as sometimes arise, in a degenerate age, to vindicate the honour of the human species". The "Encyclopædia Britannica" likewise calls him "the only man to hold that office [i.e. the imperial throne] in the 5th century who had some claim to greatness."

paragraph: Section::::Sources.

paragraph: Section::::Sources.:Primary sources.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Hydatius, "Chronicle"

paragraph: BULLET::::- John of Antioch, "Historia chronike"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Jordanes, "Getica"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Marcellinus Comes, "Annales"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Priscus, "History"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Procopius, "Vandal War"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Sidonius Apollinaris, "Carmina"; "Letters". Translation: Anderson, W.B., "Sidonius. Poems and Letters", 2 vols. (Loeb, 1936–1965).

paragraph: Section::::Sources.:Secondary sources.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Edward Gibbon, "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", Chapter XXXVI "Total Extinction Of The Western Empire".

paragraph: BULLET::::- Judith Evans Grubbs, "Women and the Law in the Roman Empire", Routledge, 2002, .

paragraph: BULLET::::- Penny MacGeorge, "Late Roman Warlords", Oxford University Press, 2002, .

paragraph: BULLET::::- Ralph W. Mathisen, "Julius Valerius Maiorianus (18 February/28 December 457 – 2/7 August 461)", "De Imperatoribus Romanis".

paragraph: BULLET::::- John Michael O'Flynn, "Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire", University of Alberta, 1983, .

paragraph: BULLET::::- Fabrizio Oppedisano, "L'impero d'Occidente negli anni di Maioriano", Roma : «L’Erma» di Bretschneider, 2013, .

paragraph: Section::::Sources.:Further reading.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Ralph W. Mathisen, "Resistance and Reconciliation: Majorian and the Gallic Aristocracy after the Fall of Avitus," "Francia" 7 (1979) pp. 597–627.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Gerald E. Max, "Political Intrigue during the Reigns of the Western Roman Emperors Avitus and Majorian," "Historia" 28 (1979) pp. 225–237.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Meyer, Helmut, "Der Regierungsantritt Kaiser Majorians," "Byzantinische Zeitschrift" 62 (1969) pp. 5–12.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Stewart I. Oost, "Aëtius and Majorian," "Classical Philology" 59 (1964) pp. 23–29.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Fabrizio Oppedisano, "Il generale contro l'imperatore. La politica di Maioriano e il dissidio con Ricimero," "Athenaeum" 97 (2009) pp. 543–561.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Fabrizio Oppedisano, "Maioriano, la plebe e il defensor civitatis," "RIvista di filologia e di istruzione classica" 139 (2011), pp. 422–448.

paragraph: Section::::External links.

alias:
Iulius Valerius Maiorianus
Maiorianus

description: Western Roman Emperor

wikidata_label: Majorian

wikipedia_title: Majorian


text: blues

text: songster

text: Navasota, Texas

text: "emancipation"

text: Alabama

text: recorded

text: Mack McCormick

text: Chris Strachwitz

text: revival

text: blues

text: folk music

text: Arhoolie Records

text: acoustic guitar

text: Brenham, Texas

text: Shine On, Harvest Moon

text: It's a Long Way to Tipperary

text: Reprise Records

text: Monterey Folk Festival

text: California

text: autobiography

text: documentary film

text: Les Blank

text: American folk music revival

text: Los Angeles, California

text: stroke

text: Les Blank

text: Lightnin' Hopkins

text: List of blues musicians

text: List of country blues musicians

text: List of guitarists by genre

text: List of people from Texas

text: Illustrated Mance Lipscomb Discography

text: Lipscomb at Famoustexans.com

categories: Country blues singers,Singers from Texas,20th-century American guitarists,Native American musicians,American male singers,American people of Choctaw descent,1895 births,Texas blues musicians,American male guitarists,Songster musicians,Guitarists from Texas,20th-century American singers,1976 deaths,American blues singers,American blues guitarists,People from Navasota, Texas,African-American musicians

paragraph: Mance Lipscomb

paragraph: Mance Lipscomb (April 9, 1895 – January 30, 1976) was an American blues singer, guitarist and songster. He was born Beau De Glen Lipscomb near Navasota, Texas. As a youth he took the name Mance (short for "emancipation") from a friend of his oldest brother, Charlie.

paragraph: Section::::Biography.

paragraph: Lipscomb was born April 9, 1895. His father was an ex-slave from Alabama; his mother was half and African-American. For most of his life, Lipscomb supported himself as a tenant farmer in Texas. He had started playing guitar at an early age and became an accomplished musician.

paragraph: He was discovered and recorded by Mack McCormick and Chris Strachwitz in 1960, during a revival of interest in the country blues. He recorded many albums of blues, ragtime, Tin Pan Alley, and folk music (most of them released by Strachwitz's Arhoolie Records), singing and accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. Lipscomb had a "dead-thumb" finger-picking guitar technique and an expressive voice. He honed his skills by playing in nearby Brenham, Texas, with a blind musician, Sam Rogers.

paragraph: His first release was the album "Texas Songster" (1960). Lipscomb performed songs in a wide range of genres, from old songs such as "Sugar Babe" (the first he ever learned), to pop numbers like "Shine On, Harvest Moon" and "It's a Long Way to Tipperary".

paragraph: In 1961 he recorded the album "Trouble in Mind", released by Reprise Records. In May 1963, he appeared at the first Monterey Folk Festival, held in California.

paragraph: Unlike many of his contemporaries, Lipscomb did not record in the early blues era. His life is well documented thanks to his autobiography, "I Say Me for a Parable: The Oral Autobiography of Mance Lipscomb, Texas Bluesman", narrated to Glen Alyn (published posthumously). He was the subject of a short 1971 documentary film by Les Blank, called "A Well Spent Life".

paragraph: He began playing the guitar at an early age and played regularly for years at local gatherings, mostly what he called "Saturday night suppers" hosted by someone in the area. He and his wife regularly hosted such gatherings for a while. Until around 1960, most of his musical activity took place within what he called his "precinct", the area around Navasota.

paragraph: Following his discovery by McCormick and Strachwitz, Lipscomb became an important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1960s. He was a regular performer at folk festivals and folk-blues clubs around the United States, notably the Ash Grove in Los Angeles, California.

paragraph: He died in Navasota in 1976, two years after suffering a stroke.

paragraph: Section::::Film.

paragraph: BULLET::::- "A Well Spent Life" (1971). Documentary directed by Les Blank and Skip Gerson. El Cerrito, California: Flower Films. Released on videotape in 1979. .

paragraph: BULLET::::- "The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins" (1970). Directed by Les Blank.

paragraph: Section::::Honors.

paragraph: An annual Navasota Blues Festival is held in his honor. On August 12, 2011, a bronze sculpture of him was unveiled in Mance Lipscomb Park in Navasota. The statue was sculpted by the artist Sid Henderson of California and weighs almost 300 pounds. It portrays Lipscomb playing his guitar whilst seated on a bench, with room for fans to sit beside him and play their own guitars at his side.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- List of blues musicians

paragraph: BULLET::::- List of country blues musicians

paragraph: BULLET::::- List of guitarists by genre

paragraph: BULLET::::- List of people from Texas

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Illustrated Mance Lipscomb Discography

paragraph: BULLET::::- Lipscomb at Famoustexans.com

paragraph: BULLET::::- Photos of Lipscomb and of a handwritten fragment of his autobiography

wikidata_label: Mance Lipscomb

wikipedia_title: Mance Lipscomb


text: Welsh

text: virgin

text: Powys

text: Wales

text: hermit

text: Brochwel Ysgithrog

text: abbess

text: Thomas Pennant

text: abbess

text: patron saint

text: hare

text: St Melangell's Orthodox Church

text: Saints and Angels - Catholic Online

text: Archaeologia Cambrensis

text: Pennant Melangell

text: Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust

text: online.

categories: Christian female saints of the Middle Ages,6th-century Welsh people,History of Powys

paragraph: Melangell

paragraph: Saint Melangell () was a Welsh virgin whose feast day is celebrated, and originally established on 27 May 590. The daughter of an Irish king, she went to Powys in central Wales to become a hermit. The prince of Powys, Brochwel Ysgithrog, granted her land after meeting her on a hunting trip, and she founded a community of women, serving as abbess for 37 years. Her shrine remains at St Melangell's Church, Pennant Melangell.

paragraph: Section::::Legend.

paragraph: The Welsh antiquarian Thomas Pennant (1726–1798) related the story of Melangell.

paragraph: Section::::Shrine at St Melangell's Church.

paragraph: Brochwel Ysgithrog, Prince of Powys awarded the valley near Saint Melangell's Church, Pennant Melangell to Melangell as a place of sanctuary, where she became abbess of a small religious community. After her death her memory continued to be honored at her shrine, and Pennant Melangell has been a place of pilgrimage for many centuries. Melangell remains the patron saint of hares. Bones said to be those of the saint have been deposited within the shrine.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- St Melangell's Church & The Saint Melangell Centre

paragraph: BULLET::::- St Melangell's Orthodox Church

paragraph: BULLET::::- Saints and Angels - Catholic Online

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Archaeologia Cambrensis", The Journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, Vol. III, Sixth Series, London, 1903.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Pennant Melangell

paragraph: BULLET::::- Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust

paragraph: Section::::Further reading.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Nancy Edwards, "Celtic Saints and Early Medieval Archaeology," in "Local saints and local churches in the early medieval West" (Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 234ff. online.

description: Saint venerated in Wales

wikidata_label: Melangell

wikipedia_title: Melangell


text: World War I

text: flying ace

text: Texas Military Institute

text: George W. Furlow

text: Henry "Hap" Arnold

text: United States Army Air Corps

text: Grumman Mallard

text: Braniff International Airways

text: Thomas Elmer Braniff

categories: 1896 births,United States Army Air Service pilots of World War I,American military personnel of World War I,1954 deaths,People from San Antonio,American World War I flying aces,United States Army Air Forces officers,TMI — The Episcopal School of Texas alumni,Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States)

paragraph: Edgar Gardner Tobin

paragraph: Lieutenant Edgar Gardner Tobin was a World War I flying ace credited with six aerial victories.

paragraph: Section::::World War I service.

paragraph: Tobin was born to a prominent San Antonio family and was educated at Texas Military Institute. While he served in the 94th and 103rd Aero Squadrons, he scored all his victories while flying for the 103rd. From 11 July to 28 September 1918, he scored six confirmed victories and an unverified one; one of his wins was shared with fellow ace George W. Furlow. Tobin ended the war with the Distinguished Service Cross and the Croix de Guerre.

paragraph: Section::::Post World War I.

paragraph: In 1928, he took over an aerial mapping firm, which became instrumental in surveying the State of Texas and thus enabled the development Texas oil industry. During the Second World War, Tobin served as a civilian aide to General Henry "Hap" Arnold of the United States Army Air Corps. He died in the crash of a Grumman Mallard on 10 January 1954 on Lake Wallace, Louisiana along with one of the co-founders of Braniff International Airways, Thomas Elmer Braniff.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- List of World War I flying aces from the United States

paragraph: Section::::Bibliography.

paragraph: BULLET::::- "American Aces of World War I." Norman Franks, Harry Dempsey. Osprey Publishing, 2001. , .

description: American flying ace

wikidata_label: Edgar Tobin

wikipedia_title: Edgar Gardner Tobin


text: American

text: artist

text: academic

text: soldier

text: art restorer

text: preservationist

text: Yale University

text: School of Fine Arts

text: World War II

text: New Haven

text: Connecticut

text: Albert Galloway Keller

text: William Graham Sumner

text: Taft School

text: Watertown, Connecticut

text: Gran Prix de Rome

text: American Academy in Rome

text: Theodore Sizer

text: Paier College of Art

text: Deane G. Keller

text: Tuscany, Italy

text: Italian Renaissance

text: Nazi looting

text: Pisa

text: Florence

text: Uffizi

text: invasion of Italy

text: Giambologna

text: Cosimo I de Medici

text: Piazza della Signoria

text: Camposanto

text: Gran Prix de Rome

text: Legion of Merit

text: British Empire Medal

text: Crown of Italy Partisan Medal

text: Medal of the Opera

text: Order of St John Lateran

text: Camposanto Monumentale

text: Camposanto Monumentale

text: Pisa

text: Thomas G. Bergin

text: Robert A. Taft

text: John Davis Lodge

text: William Howard Taft

text: Herbert Hoover

text: Roberts Commission

text: Rescuing Da Vinci

text: The Rape of Europa

text: Edsel, Robert M.

text: Vintage Books

text: OCLC 32531154

categories: 1901 births,1992 deaths,Recipients of the Legion of Merit,Yale School of Art faculty,American military personnel of World War II,Art and cultural repatriation,Monuments men,Artists from New Haven, Connecticut,Recipients of the British Empire Medal

paragraph: Deane Keller

paragraph: Deane Keller (December 14, 1901 – April 12, 1992) was an American artist, academic, soldier, art restorer and preservationist. He taught for forty years at Yale University's School of Fine Arts and during World War II was an officer with the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program.

paragraph: Section::::Biography.

paragraph: Keller was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1901. His father, Albert Galloway Keller, was a member of the junior faculty at Yale; but during young Deane's formative years, his father would become the first William Graham Sumner Professor of Sociology. Keller attended the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, graduating in 1919.

paragraph: As a student at Yale, he earned degrees in history and science in 1923. Further studies led to a B.F.A. from the Yale School of Fine Arts in 1926. Keller was awarded the Gran Prix de Rome in 1926. He was a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome (FAAR) for three years. After returning from Rome in 1929, Keller began his career as a member of the Yale faculty.

paragraph: His academic career was interrupted by the Second World War, when he was asked by School of Fine Arts dean Theodore Sizer to serve as a fine arts officer in the U.S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program. At war's end, he returned to teach at Yale's School of Fine Arts. In total, Keller taught at Yale for forty years, retiring in 1979, and was also professor emeritus of painting at the Paier College of Art.

paragraph: Keller married Katherine Parkhurst Hall in 1938. He had two sons, Deane G. Keller, 1940 – 2005, and William Keller, born in 1950.

paragraph: Section::::World War II.

paragraph: From 1943 to 1946, Keller served as an officer of the U.S. 5th Army in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program. Captain Keller was primarily responsible for the identification and transportation of artworks in Tuscany, Italy, the center of the Italian Renaissance and a major site of Nazi looting. He worked in Pisa and Florence, where Nazi troops had bombed churches, destroyed or dislocated public art, and seized paintings from museums including the Uffizi. As they were discovered during the invasion of Italy, Keller repatriated lost works, including Giambologna's statue of Cosimo I de Medici, a fixture of Florence's Piazza della Signoria. He also documented damage to buildings and murals across Tuscany, taking thousands of photographs with Charles Bernholz.

paragraph: One of Keller's most significant wartime undertakings was his attempt to preserve the murals of the Camposanto, a medieval cemetery in Pisa. In July 1944, an American shelling started a fire that caused the frescoes to fracture. Keller organized art experts and enlisted men to protect the mural pieces and protect the cemetery from further damage. Restoration of the frescoes has continued for seventy years. In recognition of his preservation efforts, an urn containing Keller's ashes was interred in the Camposanto in 2000.

paragraph: Section::::Honors.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Gran Prix de Rome, 1926.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Legion of Merit, 1946 (United States).

paragraph: BULLET::::- British Empire Medal, 1926 (United Kingdom).

paragraph: BULLET::::- Crown of Italy Partisan Medal, 1946 (Italy).

paragraph: BULLET::::- Medal of the Opera, Commune of Pisa

paragraph: BULLET::::- Order of St John Lateran, 1946. (Vatican).

paragraph: Keller was posthumously recognized for his wartime activities. He was the first to enter Pisa liberated from Nazi, 02 Sept.1944, with the partisan Pierino Fornaciari, liaison officer, with whom he rescued many art works, in particular in the Camposanto Monumentale. His remains were apportioned and interred in New Britain, Connecticut and the Camposanto Monumentale in Pisa; that site is identified with an engraved marble slab.

paragraph: Section::::Gallery.

paragraph: In addition to his academic career, Keller was a prolific portrait painter. He was known as the "unofficial portraitist of the Yale faculty," completing over 160 portrait commissions for the university, including faculty, corporation board members, and two presidents. With one of his portrait subjects, Thomas G. Bergin, Keller worked in collaboration by illustrating the book, "On Sepulchers". Portraits for clients outside these Yale commissions included Senator Robert A. Taft, Governor John Davis Lodge, and Presidents William Howard Taft and Herbert Hoover.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Roberts Commission

paragraph: BULLET::::- Rescuing Da Vinci

paragraph: BULLET::::- The Rape of Europa

paragraph: BULLET::::- Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art

paragraph: Section::::Further reading.

paragraph: BULLET::::- American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas. (1946). "Report." Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Edsel, Robert M. (2013). "Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis". New York: W.W. Norton.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Lavagnino, Emilio. (1946). "Fifty War-Damaged Monuments of Italy." Roma: "Istituto poligrafico dello Stato."

paragraph: BULLET::::- Nicholas, Lynn H. (1995). "The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Teasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War." New York: Vintage Books. ; OCLC 32531154

paragraph: BULLET::::- "13 Artists Depict Washington Story; 14 Large Murals, Contributed for Bicentennial Celebration, Are Nearly Completed," "New York Times." February 4, 1932.

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Image of Keller's memorial at Camposanto in the Piazza Miracoli

paragraph: BULLET::::- Image of Deane Keller excavating Michelangelo's Bound Slave from protective covering. Yale University Archives.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Image of Deane Keller with Botticelli's La Primavera; the painting was then stored outside Florence for safekeeping. Yale University Archives.

description: American artist and academic

wikidata_label: Deane Keller

wikipedia_title: Deane Keller


text:
Norwegian Labour Party
Hønefoss
Ringerike
Arendal
Aust-Agder
Røyken
Buskerud
Kistefos museum
Jevnaker
Oppland
May 1

categories: 1846 births,1931 deaths,Leaders of the Labour Party (Norway),People from Buskerud

paragraph: Anders Andersen (Norway)

paragraph: Anders Andersen (October 22, 1846 – September 1, 1931) was a saw mill worker who participated in forming the Norwegian Labour Party.

paragraph: Anders Andersen was born just outside Hønefoss in Ringerike, Norway. Around 1868, he moved to Arendal in Aust-Agder and lived there for 20 years. He was member of a recently founded local labour group called Samhold when he somewhat coincidentally became the first party leader in 1887. The labour group Samhold soon after ceased to exist due to local circumstances and it was not represented at the next party congress.

paragraph: In 1889, Andersen moved from Arendal and settled at Røyken in Buskerud where he worked as a farm manager. He continued to be active in the labor movement, as a member of the municipal council and trade unionist. Not even among his colleagues in Røyken was it commonly known that he had been the first leader of the Labour Party.

paragraph: Anders Andersen died in 1931 near 85 years of age. After his death, the Labour Party paid for a headstone on his grave. The memorial has later been moved to Kistefos museum at Jevnaker in Oppland. He is honored every May 1.

description: Labour activist, party founder

wikidata_label: Anders Andersen

wikipedia_title: Anders Andersen (Norway)