4? B.C.-A.D. 65

Roman Stoic philosopher and playwright who wrote on topics pertaining to natural science. Educated in a philosophy that integrated Stoicism and neo-Pythagoreanism, he probably studied natural science and composed his Natural Questions during his banishment from Rome (A.D. 41). This work poses insightful queries dealing with natural science, particularly terrestrial phenomena, revealing Seneca's curiosity about meteorological phenomena (rainbow, thunder, lightning, etc.), comets, and earthquakes. It was a popular source during the Middle Ages and Renaissance among scholars interested in these phenomena. Seneca looked at scientific study as something of a religious exercise and a basis for moral philosophy, as in his relating physics to ethics.