Source edition
Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Petronius. Seneca Apocolocyntosis. Heseltine, Michael, editor. Rouse, William Henry Denham, editor. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1913.
Source data
Perseus Digital Library · CC BY-SA (per Perseus's terms)
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This work is a satirical prose piece that humorously depicts the death of the Roman Emperor Claudius and his subsequent fate in the afterlife. The story begins with the narrator declaring that he will tell the truth about the Emperor's death and his journey to heaven, mixing precise details with poetic parody. Upon arriving in heaven, Claudius's grotesque appearance and past misdeeds baffle the gods, leading to a divine council where the deified Augustus fiercely denounces his tyranny and crimes. Condemned to exile from heaven, Claudius is dragged to the underworld, realizing his own death only when he witnesses his own funeral and the citizens' joy on earth. In the underworld, after being judged by the court of Aeacus, he is sentenced to play with a bottomless dice cup and is ultimately reduced to a low-ranking assistant to a freedman, concluding his mock-apotheosis in utter humiliation.