Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
History
Date of Award
5-2014
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
William Burgess Jr.
Committee Members
Brian Maxson, John Rankin
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Around 65 AD, the Ancient Roman philosopher Seneca wrote his only text concerning Natural Phenomenon: Natural Questions. Considered since medieval times as part of a trinity of great thinkers including Plato and Aristotle, Seneca’s work in rhetoric, philosophy, and legal theory still receive praise today. The praise is not replicated for Natural Questions, however. Modern historians who consider the work paint it as uninspiring. Pliny, another Roman author and philosopher, wrote a far more encompassing and detailed work called Natural History, and it is this work that is considered the premier Roman comment on Natural Philosophy. These contemporaneous works become juxtaposed and used to criticize Seneca’s work as inferior. A deeper consideration of the texts --primarily the subject material and use of poetry-- will determine that Seneca and Pliny wrote to different audiences and belong to different genres.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Ely, Joshua, "Comparison of Focus and Audience Between Seneca’s Natural Questions and Pliny’s Natural History" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2368. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2368
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.
Included in
European History Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, Intellectual History Commons, Oral History Commons