Marble bust of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman philosopher, statesman, orator, and tragedian 4BC - 65AD. His philosophical writings, in the tradition of the Stoic school, were widely read and admired. He was Rome's leading intellectual figure in the mid-1st century ce and was virtual ruler with his friends of the Roman world between 54 and 62, during the first phase of the emperor Nero's reign. In 65 Seneca's enemies denounced him as having been a party to the conspiracy of Piso to murder Nero. Ordered to commit suicide, he met death with fortitude and composure.