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Up till now scholarship has assumed that the return of Hercules from the underworld at the end of the second act of Hercules Furens is prefigured in some kind of epiphany (Her. F. 520-3). In the course of the drama, however, it is expressly stated on two occasions that Hercules has already left the underworld at an earlier point. This apparent contradiction can be resolved if one supposes that Amphitryon, who is the sole witness of the epiphany, is the victim of an illusion. It is possible to explain the phenomena which he interprets wrongly (the groaning of the earth and the swaying of the temple) by taking into account the simultaneous action on stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a critical analysis of a passage from the drama "Hercules Furens," written by the Roman author Seneca the Younger. The article examines a scene in the tragedy where the mythological figure Hercules sacrifices several children, and compares it to the way the Greek tragedians Euripides and Sophocles described the same story in their dramas "Herakles" and "Die Trachinierinnen." The article analyzes the word choice, symbolism, and literary motifs used to describes the killings.