![Seneca the Younger, Apocolocyntosis, St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Seneca_the_Younger%2C_Apocolocyntosis%2C_St._Gallen%2C_569.jpg)
The ''Apocolocyntosis (divi) Claudii'', literally ''The Pumpkinification of ''(''the Divine'')'' Claudius'', is a satire on the Roman emperor
Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...
, which, according to
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
, was written by
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature.
Seneca was born in ...
. A partly extant
Menippean satire
The genre of Menippean satire is a form of satire, usually in prose, that is characterized by attacking mental attitudes rather than specific individuals or entities. It has been broadly described as a mixture of allegory, picaresque narrative, and ...
, an anonymous work called ''Ludus de morte Divi Claudii'' ("Play on the Death of the Divine Claudius") in its surviving manuscripts, may or may not be identical to the text mentioned by Cassius Dio. "Apocolocyntosis" is a word play on "
apotheosis
Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term has ...
", the process by which dead Roman emperors were recognized as gods.
Authorship
The ''Ludus de morte Divi Claudii'' is one of only two examples of a Menippean satire from the classical era that have survived, the other being the ''
Satyricon
The ''Satyricon'', ''Satyricon'' ''liber'' (''The Book of Satyrlike Adventures''), or ''Satyrica'', is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as Titus Petro ...
'', which was likely written by
Petronius
Gaius Petronius Arbiter["Gaius Petronius Arbiter"]
Gilbert Bagnani Gilbert may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Gilbert (surname), including a list of people
Places Australia
* Gilbert River (Queensland)
* Gilbert River (South ...
is among the scholars who also attribute the ''Ludus'' text to Petronius.
"Apocolocyntosis" is Latinized Greek, and can also be transliterated as ''Apokolokyntosis'' (
Attic Greek
Attic Greek is the Greek language, Greek dialect of the regions of ancient Greece, ancient region of Attica, including the ''polis'' of classical Athens, Athens. Often called classical Greek, it was the prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige diale ...
Ἀποκολοκύντωσις: "Pumpkinification", "Gourdification"). The title ''Apokolokyntosis'' comes from the Roman historian
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
, who wrote in
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
. Cassius Dio attributed authorship of a satirical text on the death of Claudius, called ''Apokolokyntosis'', to Seneca the Younger. Only much later was the work referred to by Cassius Dio identified (with some degree of uncertainty) with the ''Ludus'' text. Most scholars accept this attribution, although a minority holds that the two works are not the same, and that the surviving text is not necessarily Seneca's.
Plot
The work traces the death of Claudius, his ascent to heaven, judgment by the gods, and eventual descent to
Hades
Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...
. At each turn, the author mocks the late emperor's personal failings, most notably his arrogant cruelty and his inarticulacy.
After
Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
persuades
Clotho
Clotho (; el, Κλωθώ) is a mythological figure. She is the youngest of the Three Fates or Moirai who spins the thread of human life; the other two draw out (Lachesis) and cut (Atropos) in ancient Greek mythology. Her Roman equivalent is ...
to kill the emperor, Claudius walks to
Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...
, where he convinces
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Gr ...
to let the gods hear his suit for
deification
Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term has ...
in a session of the divine
senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. Proceedings are in Claudius's favor until
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
delivers a long and sincere speech listing some of Claudius's most notorious crimes. Most of the speeches of the gods are lost due to a large
lacuna
Lacuna (plural lacunas or lacunae) may refer to:
Related to the meaning "gap"
* Lacuna (manuscripts), a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or musical work
**Great Lacuna, a lacuna of eight leaves where there was heroic Old Norse po ...
in the text.
Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
escorts him to Hades. On the way, they witness the funeral procession for the emperor, in which a crew of venal characters mourns the loss of the perpetual
Saturnalia
Saturnalia is an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 23 December. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple ...
of the previous reign. In Hades Claudius is greeted by the ghosts of all the friends he has murdered. These shades carry him off to be punished, and the gods condemn him to shake dice forever in a box with no bottom (as gambling was one of Claudius's vices); every time he tries to throw the dice, they fall out, and he has to search the ground for them. Suddenly
Caligula
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...
appears, claims that Claudius is an ex-slave of his, and hands him over to be a law clerk in the court of the underworld.
Translations
Notable English-language translations of the ''Apocolocyntosis'' include:
*
W. H. D. Rouse
William Henry Denham Rouse (; 30 May 1863 – 10 February 1950) was a pioneering British teacher who advocated the use of the "direct method" of teaching Latin and Greek.
Life
Rouse was born in Calcutta, British India on 30 May 1863. After his f ...
(1913), ''Apocolocyntosis, or Ludus de Morte Claudii: The Pumpkinification of Claudius'' (available on
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...
''Apocolocyntosis'' by W.H.D. Rouse, 1920 edition available on The Stoic Therapy eLibrary
''Apocolocyntosis''
* J.P. Sullivan (ed), "The Apocolocyntosis" (Penguin Books, 1986)
* The novel ''
Claudius the God
''I, Claudius'' is a historical novel by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934. Written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, it tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the early years of the Rom ...
'' by
Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
contains a translation of the ''Apocolocyntosis'' in the annexes
See also
*
Imperial cult (Ancient Rome)
The Roman imperial cult identified Roman emperor, emperors and some members of their families with the Divine right of kings, divinely sanctioned authority (''auctoritas'') of the Roman State. Its framework was based on Roman and Greek precedents ...
Notes
References
* Altman, Marion (1938). "Ruler Cult in Seneca." ''Classical Philology'' 33 (1938): 198–204.
* Astbury, Raymond (1988). "The Apocolocyntosis." ''The Classical Review'' ns 38 (1988): 44–50.
* Colish, Marcia (1976). "Seneca's Apocolocyntosis as a Possible Source for Erasmus' Julius Exclusus." ''Renaissance Quarterly'' 29 (1976): 361–368.
* Relihan, Joel (1984). "On the Origin of 'Menippean Satire' as the Name of a Literary Genre." ''Classical Philology'' 79 (1984): 226–9.
''Senecae Apocolocyntosis Divi Claudii (Latin Text)''at The Stoic Therapy eLibrary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apocolocyntosis
1st-century Latin books
Underworld in classical literature
Latin prose texts
Political thought in ancient Rome
Satirical works
Works by Seneca the Younger
Claudius