The philosopher Seneca or the Prophet Elijah / Elias as his name appears in the Qur’an
The prophets Elijah and Isaiah were placed in traditional religious history in the seventh century BCE, but this view holds that their correct chronological setting should be in the first century CE.
Contrary to what some people believe, the historical Torah does not stop with the coming of Christ, but rather, in this interpretation, extends into the first century CE and includes major events such as the Great Fire of Rome and the eruption of Pompeii in Italy. In this context, this study proposes that the prophet Elijah is in fact the philosopher Seneca, the adviser of Nero, and that he appears in the religious narrative under the name Elijah, while Nero appears under the name Ahab, and his second wife Poppaea Sabina appears under the name Jezebel.
The Fire of Rome in the First Book of Kings
In the Old Testament, in the First Book of Kings, there appears the scene of the great confrontation between Elijah, Ahab, and the prophets of Baal. It is a scene centered on the question of the true God and on the fire that descends from heaven as a decisive sign of the truthfulness of the prophet and the falsehood of the worship of Baal.
The text begins with Ahab saying to Elijah:
“Are you the troubler of Israel?”
Elijah replies that it is not he who has troubled Israel, but Ahab and his father’s house, because they abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Ahab then gathers the people at Mount Carmel, together with the prophets of Baal, where the well-known confrontation takes place.
In this scene, Elijah calls the people to make a decision:
If the Lord is God, then follow Him; and if Baal, then follow him.
He then proposes that two offerings be presented, one for the prophets of Baal and the other for himself, on the condition that the god who answers by fire is the true God.
The text continues by describing the inability of the prophets of Baal to accomplish anything, despite their cries, their rituals, and their cutting of themselves. Elijah then steps forward, repairs the altar of the Lord, places the offering upon it, pours water over it repeatedly, and then calls upon the Lord. At that moment, the divine fire descends and consumes the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water in the trench. The people then fall on their faces and proclaim that the Lord is God.
Elijah then orders the prophets of Baal to be seized and killed at the River Kishon.
The Qur’an and Elias
According to this interpretation, the name of Seneca appears in the Qur’an under the name Elias. The Qur’an says concerning Elias:
“And indeed, Elias was among the messengers, when he said to his people: Will you not fear God? Do you call upon Baal and leave the Best of creators?”
From this it is understood that the Qur’an is speaking about the same figure who appears in religious tradition under the name Elijah, but under the name Elias, which is the form in which he appears in the Qur’anic text.
The First Book of Kings, Chapter 19
In the following chapter of the First Book of Kings, the text states that Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
In this interpretation, these figures are read in a new way:
Elijah / Elias = the philosopher Seneca
Ahab = Nero, or the figure understood here as an image of the Antichrist
Jezebel = Poppaea Sabina, Nero’s second wife
Thus, the story of Elijah in the Book of Kings, with its conflict involving Ahab, Jezebel, and the prophets of Baal, becomes open to a new reading as a religious or symbolic reflection of events from the first century CE, rather than as a story belonging only to the seventh century BCE.
The Fire of Rome in General History
Before the fire, Rome depended on nine aqueducts to bring water into the city, but they were not equipped as a system specifically designed for firefighting. The maintenance of these aqueducts was one of the continuing duties supervised by the Water Commissioner of Rome, who was also responsible for investigating cases in which water was drawn illegally without payment of the fees due to the state. The means used to extinguish fires were relatively primitive, relying on blankets, buckets of water, vinegar, and at times the demolition of buildings in order to prevent the spread of the flames.
According to the account of Tacitus, the fire began in the shops where flammable goods were stored, in the area adjoining the Circus Maximus, near the Caelian and Palatine Hills in Rome. The night was very windy, and the flames spread rapidly along the full length of the Circus. The fire then extended through an area of narrow and winding streets, among buildings standing very close together. In this lower part of ancient Rome, there were no large buildings or open spaces, such as temples or vacant grounds, that might have hindered the spread of the flames. For this reason, the fire continued to spread along the slopes of the Palatine and the Caelian.
At first, the inhabitants fled to areas that had not yet been reached by the fire, and later they sought refuge in the open fields and country roads outside the city. It was reported that some looters and fire-raisers contributed to widening the scope of the disaster, either by throwing torches or by preventing people from trying to extinguish the fire or slow its progress. It was also said that some of these groups claimed they were acting under orders. The fire continued for six consecutive days, then ceased, but soon broke out again and lasted for three additional days.
The Death of the Prophet Elijah and Seneca
The Death of the Prophet Elijah in the Torah
According to 2 Kings 2:3–9, Elisha and the sons of the prophets knew beforehand that Elijah would one day be taken up into heaven. For this reason, Elisha asked Elijah that a double portion of his spirit might be upon him. Elijah agreed, on the condition that Elisha would witness the moment of his taking.
Then Elijah approached the Jordan River with Elisha, rolled up his cloak, and struck the water with it. The water immediately parted, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. Suddenly, a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared, and Elijah was lifted up in the whirlwind. As he ascended, his cloak fell to the ground, and Elisha picked it up.
The Death of the Prophet Elias / Elijah in the Qur’an
In the Qur’an, the scene of the man who came from the farthest part of the city in Surah Ya-Sin is also invoked, in the context of the punishment that descended upon the people after they denied the messengers. This interpretation understands that this figure may be connected with the Prophet Elias / Elijah, in a reading that sees his death not as an ordinary death, but as one that came within a religious and historical context associated with a great destruction.
God says:
“And present to them the example of the people of the town, when the messengers came to it. When We sent to them two, but they denied them, so We strengthened them with a third, and they said: Indeed, we are messengers to you. They said: You are nothing but human beings like us, and the Most Merciful has not sent down anything; you are only lying. They said: Our Lord knows that we have indeed been sent to you, and upon us is nothing except clear delivery of the message. They said: Indeed, we regard you as a bad omen. If you do not desist, we will surely stone you, and a painful punishment from us will touch you. And there came from the farthest part of the city a man running. He said: O my people, follow the messengers. Follow those who ask of you no reward, and they are rightly guided. And why should I not worship the One who created me, and to whom you will be returned? Shall I take besides Him other gods? If the Most Merciful intends me harm, their intercession will not avail me at all, nor can they save me. Indeed, then I would be in clear error. Indeed, I have believed in your Lord, so listen to me. It was said: Enter Paradise. He said: Would that my people knew how my Lord has forgiven me and made me among the honored. And We did not send down upon his people after him any hosts from heaven, nor was it for Us to send them down. It was but one cry, and behold, they were extinguished.”
In this interpretation, this scene is linked to an immense and sudden destruction, and it is suggested that it corresponds to a major volcanic event, such as the eruption of Pompeii, where a single cry came and the people were all extinguished, passing into collective destruction.
Seneca was a saint in early Christianity
The early Christian Church viewed Seneca in a highly favorable light, and even treated his writings as being close to the moral spirit preached by Christianity. For this reason, Tertullian, one of the most prominent early Church Fathers, expressed this closeness when he referred to him in a possessive way, calling him “our Seneca.” This expression does not mean that Seneca was a Christian in the direct doctrinal sense, but it does reveal the extent to which some Church leaders felt that his moral and ascetic ideas were in harmony with many of the principles that early Christianity sought to establish.
As time passed, Christian circles did not remain satisfied with this general admiration, but sought to incorporate Seneca more deeply into the Christian tradition itself. Thus, by the fourth century CE, an apocryphal correspondence between Seneca and the Apostle Paul had appeared. These letters were not historically authentic, but they clearly reveal a desire to establish a direct link between the Roman philosopher and the Christian apostolic world. The very invention of such correspondence shows that Christian consciousness in that period did not regard Seneca as merely a distant pagan thinker, but as a figure who could be brought closer to the Christian sphere and symbolically attached to it.
Jerome mentioned these letters and even included Seneca among a list of Christian writers, which is highly significant, because it shows that the boundaries between Stoic philosophy and Christian literature were not as rigid as one might imagine. Augustine also mentioned him in a context indicating that his name was present in Christian intellectual memory as that of a respected figure close to the Christian moral sensibility.
In the sixth century CE, Martin of Braga recast Seneca’s ideas into two short treatises, and these works became widely popular in later circles. This means that Seneca was not merely an ancient name mentioned in passing, but that his thought continued to be re-presented and adapted in ways suitable for Christian readers, until part of his intellectual presence became embedded within Latin Christian culture.
Nevertheless, medieval knowledge of Seneca was not always based on direct reading of his complete works, but rather on a large number of quotations and excerpts that circulated in the florilegia, literary collections that gathered maxims, sayings, and selected passages. These compilations were extremely popular throughout the Middle Ages, and thus the image of Seneca reached many readers not through his complete original texts, but through carefully selected fragments highlighting his moral wisdom and practical teachings.
When his works began to be read more clearly again in the later Middle Ages, the text that enjoyed the greatest prominence was his Letters to Lucilius, because they were closer to the moral and educational concerns that readers of that period preferred. His longer works, such as the more extended essays and the tragedies, remained less well known and less widely circulated in comparison with the Letters.
The conclusion of this picture is that, in medieval Christian consciousness, Seneca was not merely a pagan Roman philosopher, but had become a figure closely associated with the Christian moral sphere. He was repeatedly reread and represented in ways that made him appear, in the eyes of many, more like an earlier Christian sage, or at least a figure parallel to Christianity, even if he was not historically a member of it.