Editing Tragedy (section)

==Roman<!--'Roman tragedy' redirects here-->==
[[File:Pompeii - Casa del Centenario - Orest.jpg|thumb|190px|Scene from the tragedy ''Iphigenia in Tauris'' by Euripides. Roman fresco in Pompeii.]]
{{See also|Senecan tragedy}}
Following the expansion of the [[Roman Republic]] (509–27 BCE) into several Greek territories between 270 and 240 BCE, Rome encountered [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Greek tragedy]].{{Sfn | Brockett | Hildy | 2003 | p = 43}} From the later years of the republic and by means of the [[Roman Empire]] (27 BCE-476 CE), theatre spread west across Europe, around the Mediterranean and even reached Britain.{{Sfn | Brockett | Hildy | 2003 | pp = 36, 47}} While Greek tragedy continued to be performed throughout the Roman period, the year 240 BCE marks the beginning of regular [[Theatre of ancient Rome|Roman drama]].{{Sfn | Brockett | Hildy | 2003 | p = 43}}{{Refn | group = "lower-alpha" | For more information on the ancient Roman dramatists, see [[:Category:Ancient Roman dramatists and playwrights|the articles categorised under "Ancient Roman dramatists and playwrights" in Wikipedia]].}} [[Livius Andronicus]] began to write Roman tragedies, thus creating some of the first important works of [[Latin literature|Roman literature]].{{Sfn | Brockett | Hildy | 2003 | p = 47}} Five years later, [[Gnaeus Naevius]] also began to write tragedies (though he was more appreciated for his comedies).{{Sfn | Brockett | Hildy | 2003 | p = 47}} No complete early Roman tragedy survives, though it was highly regarded in its day; historians know of three other early tragic playwrights—[[Quintus Ennius]], [[Marcus Pacuvius]] and [[Lucius Accius]].{{Sfn | Brockett | Hildy | 2003 | p = 49}}

From the time of the empire, the tragedies of two playwrights survive—one is an unknown author, while the other is the [[Stoicism|Stoic philosopher]] [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]].{{Sfn | Brockett | Hildy | 2003 | pp = 50}} Nine of [[Senecan tragedy|Seneca's tragedies]] survive, all of which are ''fabula crepidata'' (tragedies adapted from Greek originals); his ''[[Phaedra (Seneca)|Phaedra]]'', for example, was based on [[Euripides]]' ''[[Hippolytus (play)|Hippolytus]]''.{{Sfn | Brockett | Hildy | 2003 | pp = 49–50}} Historians do not know who wrote the only [[Extant literature|extant]] example of the ''fabula praetexta'' (tragedies based on Roman subjects), ''[[Octavia (play)|Octavia]]'', but in former times it was mistakenly attributed to Seneca due to his appearance as a character in the tragedy.{{Sfn | Brockett | Hildy | 2003 | pp = 50}}

Seneca's tragedies rework those of all three of the Athenian tragic playwrights whose work has survived. Probably meant to be recited at elite gatherings, they differ from the Greek versions with their long declamatory, narrative accounts of action, their obtrusive moralizing, and their bombastic rhetoric. They dwell on detailed accounts of horrible deeds and contain long reflective [[Soliloquy|soliloquies]]. Though the gods rarely appear in these plays, ghosts and witches are abound. Senecan tragedies explore ideas of [[Revenge tragedy|revenge]], the occult, the supernatural, suicide, blood and gore. The Renaissance scholar [[Julius Caesar Scaliger]] (1484–1558), who knew both Latin and Greek, preferred Seneca to Euripides.