Abstract
Intertextuality affects the formal features of Senecan tragedy; Seneca innovates his prologue speeches, choral odes, and messenger speeches by incorporating intertextual references. Prologue speakers introduce meaningful imagery for the play. Suggestive intertexts often foreshadow tragic action (Hercules Furens, Oedipus). The strong influence of Horace on Seneca’s choral odes is emphasized. Seneca includes this Horatian language elsewhere in the play, and the reader is meant to read Horace’s poetry through this Senecan tragic lens. Messenger speeches act as “epic” moments replete with intertexts especially from the Aeneid and Metamorphoses. The death of Hippolytus is the exemplary Senecan messenger speech.
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