Abstract
this paper explores the French translations from Greek Tragedy at the beginning of the 16th century and aims to rethink the birth of French Tragedy, by showing that its origin was Greek and not Latin. Historical and religious reasons - and not a literary preference - explain Seneca’s hegemony after 1550: all the translators belong somehow to Marguerite de Navarre’s Evangelist network, heretics and Hellenists are frequently associated, and the impact of the Council of Trent’s prohibitions will put an end to this experience. For more than a century, until Jean Racine, Greek Tragedy will disappear from libraries and schools and Seneca will become the new predominant source for playwrights.