Ecerinis

play by Mussato

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June 25, 2026

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Ecerinis is a tragedy written by Albertino Mussato, an Italian statesman and writer of the 14th century. Modeled after the plays of Seneca, this work is based on the life of the Veronese tyrant Ezzelino da Romano. It is considered a significant piece that foreshadowed the Italian humanism movement. Mussato was crowned a poet in 1315, the first to receive such an honor from the senate and university of Padua. His literary contributions also include historical chronicles of 14th-century Italy.1

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classical scholarship
The later Middle Ages
…composing a Senecan tragedy, the Ecerinis, designed to open the eyes of the Paduans to the danger presented by Cangrande della Scala, the tyrant of Verona, by describing the tyrannical conduct of their own former despot, Ezzelino III.
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…composing a Senecan tragedy, the Ecerinis, designed to open the eyes of the Paduans to the danger presented by Cangrande della Scala, the tyrant of Verona, by describing the tyrannical conduct of their own former despot, Ezzelino III.
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Albertino Mussato
…Latin poems and the tragedy Ecerinis, modeled after Seneca’s plays and based on the life of the Veronese tyrant Ezzelino da Romano, foreshadow Italian humanism.
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…Latin poems and the tragedy Ecerinis, modeled after Seneca’s plays and based on the life of the Veronese tyrant Ezzelino da Romano, foreshadow Italian humanism.
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history of Europe
Growth of literacy
…lawyer and politician, whose play Ecerinis, modeled on the work of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, has been called the first Renaissance tragedy. By reviving several types of ancient literary forms and by promoting the use of Classical models for poetry and rhetoric, the Paduan humanists helped make the 14th-century Italians more…
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…lawyer and politician, whose play Ecerinis, modeled on the work of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, has been called the first Renaissance tragedy. By reviving several types of ancient literary forms and by promoting the use of Classical models for poetry and rhetoric, the Paduan humanists helped make the 14th-century Italians more…
Read More