Marion Bohlender

Marion Bohlender studied Latin Philology, Catholic Theology, Teaching German as a Second Language and Educational Sciences at LMU Munich as part of the teacher training programme for grammar schools, which she completed in 2023 with the First Bavarian State Examination. From October 2023 to March 2026, she worked as a research assistant at the Chair of Ancient Latin Philology under Prof. Dr Therese Fuhrer. Since April 2024, she has been an associate member of the Research Training Group ‘Family Matters’. Since March 2026, her PhD research has been funded by the Cusanuswerk.

Thesis topic: ‘Domus afflicta – The Affliction of the Family by the Spirits of the Dead in Seneca’s Tragedies’

This doctoral thesis focuses on apparitions of the dead in Seneca’s tragedies and examines the role that the spirit of the dead plays within the tragic family, the dramaturgical significance of the spirit’s appearance, to what extent the spirit of the deceased family member attempts to steer the fate of the descendants – as encapsulated in the term domus afflicta – in a particular direction, and how this affliction is reflected in the text. The aim is thereby to supplement the debate on the interpretation of supernatural phenomena in Seneca’s tragedies—which is usually conducted through philosophical argumentation—with a genuinely dramaturgical and familial perspective.