As súplicas de Hércules no prólogo da tragédia senequiana Hercules Oetaeus: um apelo pela imortalidade

Abstract

Hercules Oetaeus (Hercules on Oeta) is one of the tragedies written by Seneca, which main subject is the death and the apotheosis of the great hero Hercules. The prologue of the senecan tragedy is composed by 103 stanzas through which Hercules, speakingin first person, tries to persuade Zeus, his father and the father of all gods, to provide him the power of immortality. Our article aims to present the pleadings of the hero on the prologue of the tragedy Hercules Oetaeus, along with the translation and comments about the stanzas in which the hero lists the glorious achievements conducted by himself. We understand that the role of Hercules serves as na example through which the principles of the stoic-senecan teachings can be demonstrated and, especially, disseminated. As a main text, we will use the edition signed by Fitch (2004); and, to assist us with the simbolism of the myths, we will use the researches done by Brandão (2010; 2012); and the philosophical books written by Seneca will be used as a guideline to our observations.

Keywords

• latin tragedy
• hercules oetaeus
• seneca
• hercules