Lucius Annaeus Seneca, most commonly known as just Seneca, is recognized as one of the primary forefathers of Stoic philosophy.
Stoicism is a school of thought that formed initially in Athens, Greece in third century BC by an individual named Zeno of Cittium.
And despite the years of fluctuating historic and cultural circumstances that Stoicism has endured since, it retains a uniquely high level of popularity still to this day, testifying for its potency and potential value.
To provide some brief, basic background; after being founded in ancient Greece, Stoicism was further formed and popularized in ancient Rome and is most commonly associated with individuals of this time like Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and of course, Seneca.
The key principles of the philosophy generally include living in accordance with nature, devoting one's self to wisdom, virtue, and duty, avoiding acting on intense emotions, embracing one's fate, and focusing more on the internal experience of life as opposed to the external.
In terms of Seneca, specifically, he was born around 4 BC in Spain, but lived most of his life in Rome until he died there in 65 AD.
Throughout his life, he was a statesman, orator, tragic writer, philosopher, as well as a variety of other things.
Seneca lived a life of rather extreme ups and downs as a result of his particular relationship with various aspects of the politics of Rome at the time.
In a lot of ways, he can be observed to have struggled to follow what would be considered his own Stoic advice, which is perhaps worth noting.
However, arguably, it does not devalue many of the ideas he shared, but rather, perhaps attests to the difficulty of them.
