Oedipus

Whether or not Seneca's tragedies were staged, or how they were performed, is highly controversial. Here it is assumed that some kind of performance of them took place in Rome. Quinitilian (8.3.31) may be taken as evidence that some of the plays were in circulation in the early 50s. Further evidence for the plays' circulation, and performance, by at least 79 AD, is offered by the graffito from Pompeii which quotes l. 730 of Seneca's Agamemnon (CIL 4.6698). On the basis of stylistic considerations, Fitch suggests that the Oedipus was composed earlier than the Hercules, which is dated to shortly before 54 AD; see J. Fitch, Seneca Tragedies Vol. I (Loeb, 2002), p. 12. The date range here therefore is set between Seneca's return to Rome in 49 AD and the date of the Hercules.