Apocolocyntosis

The Apocolocyntosis in the St. Gallen manuscript, Stiftsbibliothek, 569, page 251 (9th century)

The Apocolocyntosis (after the Greek neologism Ἀποκολοκύντωσις, about "transformation into a pumpkin or a colocynth , Verkürbissung" of κολοκύνθη, Attic κολοκύντη "Gourd") is a likely end of the year 54 n. Chr. Of Seneca wrote satire on the short previously deceased Roman Emperor Claudius . The title of the work parodies the Greek term apotheosis, which is also used in Latin, for the deification of a deceased person. Formally, the apocolocyntosis can be assigned to Menippe satire due to its mixture of prose and lyrical parts .

If the conventional information about the author and the context of its origin are correct, the text casts a telling picture of the circumstances in the early Principate : Seneca, who was at court at the time, must have assumed that the mockery of Claudius would arouse the pleasure of the new emperor Nero , although he had only recently ordered the deification of his predecessor.

Tradition and title

The best manuscript of the text available today is Codex Sangallensis 569 , the piece is listed in it under the title Apotheosis Annæi Senecæ per saturam . In the other, but much worse text witnesses, the satire is simply referred to as Ludus de morte Claudii Neronis (or similar), there is no author at all. The name Apocolocyntosis was first handed down to the historian Cassius Dio around the year 200 AD , on whose information the attribution to Seneca the Younger is based. However, this thesis has recently been partially disputed.

The image of the transformation into a pumpkin was to posthumously expose Claudius to ridicule and satirize his apotheosis . The fact that the pumpkin was considered a symbol of stupidity in ancient times (in the sense of "hollow head") is claimed again and again, but it is anything but certain.

action

The action takes place on the day of Claudius's death (October 13, 54 AD).

1st chapter

First, the author presents himself as a historiographer who wants to write about what happened in heaven on October 13, 54 AD . He also cites a source of information for his information, although he believes it is unnecessary for a historian.

2nd chapter

In epic hexameters , Seneca gives the date of the day of death. However, he realizes that it is easier to understand in prose , so he gives the day and approximate time (which he then also encapsulates in hexameters in response to an imaginary objection by the reader).

3rd chapter

This is where the real action begins. Claudius is dying; Mercurius goes to the Parzen and asks them to put an end to Claudius' long suffering. They object that they actually wanted to let him live a little longer, but then consented.

4th chapter

Again in hexameters, Seneca briefly describes how Claudius' thread of life is cut off, and then in the following 30 verses sing a song of praise to his successor Nero . Furthermore, he puts the sentence “Vae me, puto, concacavi me!” (“Oh dear, I think I pissed myself off!”) In Claudius's mouth as the last words.

5th chapter

This is where the description of what goes on in heaven begins. The arrival of a stranger is reported to Jupiter . Since no one can understand or recognize him, Hercules is sent to him. He has traveled widely and is familiar with all kinds of monsters . This asks him with a Homer , which part of the world he comes from, and immediately receives an answer in another Homer, which Claudius quotes and thus identifies himself as Julier (he states that he has just come from Ilion ( Troy ), the home of the Aeneas , the progenitor of the Julier).

6th chapter

Here Febris , the goddess of fever , who accompanied him to heaven (Claudius was a sickly man all his life), intervenes and corrects this statement by declaring that he actually comes from Lyon . Claudius then wants to lead them away and have them killed, but of course he has no authority in heaven.

7th chapter

Hercules then severely confronts him and Claudius realizes that he has nothing to report. Instead, he now begins to flatter Hercules and tries to win him over as an advocate for the other gods. The text then breaks off.

Probable content of the lost section:

Claudius pulls Hercules to his side. Both go to the assembly of the gods, to which Hercules forcibly gives them access. The application for the deification of Claudius is made.

8th chapter

A god (presumably Apollo ) asks what kind of god Claudius should become and claims that no god will consent to an apotheosis , not even Saturn , whose festival Claudius celebrated all year long.

9th chapter

Jupiter intervenes, restores the Senate order by sending the private man Claudius out of the building for the time of the consultation and then leading the discussion. Janus speaks first , who speaks out against deification and not only for Claudius, but for all people. Then Dis Pater - at a sign from Hercules - stands up for Claudius. It is reported that opinions were not uniform, but that a majority for Claudius was emerging.

10th chapter

The deified emperor Augustus gives an artless speech in which he vehemently speaks out against the deification of Claudius.

11th chapter

Continuation of Augustus' speech and resolution of the assembly of gods: Claudius will not become a god and should move into the underworld .

12th chapter

Claudius is led by Mercurius over the Via Sacra to the entrance of the underworld. While doing so, he briefly watches his own funeral and enjoys a funeral song, whose mocking meaning escapes him completely.

13th chapter

Mercurius and Claudius arrive in the underworld, where he is awaited by the many he had executed. Of course, they are happy to see him (on the one hand because he is now dead, on the other hand because he is not a god either, but has to eke out his existence in the underworld), which Claudius sees as real joy and makes him exclaim “Πάντα φίλων πλήρη ”(“ Everything is full of friends ”).

14th chapter

Claudius is introduced to the underworld judge Aeacus . At first there is no lawyer for him, but then a defense attorney ( Publius Petronius , a drinking companion) appears for him. However, the judge only hears the prosecution, not the defense. The sentence is negotiated. Finally, Claudius is condemned to join such great underworld penitents as Tantalus or Sisyphus and to throw a dice cup for all eternity, from the bottom of which the dice keep falling out - a punishment similar to the barrel of the Danaids .

15th chapter

Caligula appears and demands Claudius as a slave, to compensate for personally suffered misery. This is promptly awarded to him, but then the emperor does not want it himself and gives it to Aeacus, who in turn passes Claudius on to a freedman. Now he does police work for eternity.

Seneca's implementation

The piece is the only almost completely preserved example of a Latin Menippe satire . Seneca unites elements from the most diverse genres in the piece to a special extent, for example epic (apparatus of gods and journey through the underworld), tragedy (appearance of a choir) and comedy (appearance of Hercules as Heracles comicus) in a parodic manner. As in the other Roman satires of Juvenal and Persius , the reference to time is an important element here too.

Over the duration of the entire piece there are numerous references to the time when Claudius reigned. The work contains, among other things, allusions to the employment of numerous angular lawyers during Claudius' tenure and his tendency to have political opponents executed . Seneca also targets various bad character traits and ailments of Claudius, admittedly with grotesque distortion, for example his mumbling, indistinct pronunciation, the limping gait as well as his passion for gambling .

Later Seneca is said to have been ashamed of this angry polemic , which so obviously contradicted the ideal of philosophical serenity he advocated, and allegedly tried to prevent its further spread. While historians like Ulrich Gotter , who see Seneca more as a power politician, often use the apocolocyntosis as evidence of how unscrupulous he was in the service of Nero, especially those researchers who represent a positive Seneca image have always had difficulties with it to bring the text in line with his other philosophical work. A new solution to the problem was proposed in 2016 by Niklas Holzberg , who denied Seneca's authorship and considered the apocolocyntosis to be a work of the 2nd or early 3rd century.

Text output (partly with translation and / or comment)

Renata Roncali: L. Annaei Senecae Apokolokyntosis . Leipzig 1990, ISBN 3-322-00670-0 , Reprint Berlin / New York 2010 ISBN 978-3-11-097534-5 (Bibliotheca Teubneriana)
Otto Schönberger : Lucius Annaeus Seneca / Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii. Introduction, text and commentary . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1990, ISBN 3-88479-564-3
Allan A. Lund : L. Annaeus Seneca Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii. Edited, translated and commented on . Winter, Heidelberg 1994, ISBN 3-8253-0139-7
Gerhard Binder : L. Annaeus Seneca / Apokolokyntosis: Latin-German . Düsseldorf 1999 ( Tusculum Collection ), ISBN 978-3-7608-1716-3

literature

Andreas Heil: The origin of Claudius. Etymological puns in Seneca, Apocolocyntosis 5-6 . In: Museum Helveticum 63 (2006), pp. 193–207.
Niklas Holzberg : Act of revenge and “negative prince mirror” or literary masquerade? New approach to an interpretation of the apocolocyntosis . In: Gymnasium 123 (2016), pp. 321–339.
Michael Paschalis : The Afterlife of Emperor Claudius in Seneca's Apocolocyntosis . In: Numen 56 (2009), pp. 198-216.
Thomas Reiser: Bachtin and Seneca - to the grotesque in the "Apocolocyntosis Divi Claudii". In: Hermes 135 (2007), pp. 469-481.
Christian Reitzenstein-Ronning: certa clara affero? Seneca's Apocolocyntosis and the sign language of the Principate . In: Chiron 47, 2017, 213-242.
Meike Rühl: All information without guarantee: moments of uncertainty and transition in Seneca's apocolocyntosis . In: Antike und Abendland 57 (2011), pp. 74–94.
Sonja Wolf: The Augustus speech in Seneca's Apocolocyntosis. A contribution to the image of Augustus in the early imperial period . Hain, Koenigstein / Ts. 1986.

Web links

Remarks

^ Cassius Dio, Roman History LX, 35.2 ff.
↑ Joachim Adamietz : The Roman satire. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1986, p. 363.
↑ Allan A. Lund: Introduction. In: L. Annaeus Seneca: Apocolocyntosis Divi Claudii (Scientific Commentaries on Greek and Latin Writers). C. Winter, Heidelberg 1994, p. 18.
↑ James Ker: Seneca, man of many genres. In: Katharina Volk , Gareth Williams: Seeing Seneca Whole. Perspectives on Philosophy, Poetry and Politics. Brill, Leiden / Boston 2006, pp. 19–41, here p. 31.
^ Daniel Hooley: Roman Satire (Blackwell Introductions to the Classical World). Blackwell Publishing, Malden 2007, esp.p. 144 f.
↑ Apocolocyntosis , 12.2. See also Anton Bauer: Notes. In: L. Annaeus Seneca: Apocolocyntosis. The gourd of the emperor Claudius. Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1981, p. 64, note 108.
↑ Miriam T. Griffin : Imago Vitae Suae. In: John G. Fitch (ed.): Seneca ( Oxford Readings in Classical Studies ). Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2008, pp. 23–58, here p. 43 f.
^ Gregor Maurach: Introduction. In the S. (Ed.): Seneca as a philosopher. (= Ways of Research, Vol. CCCCXIV), Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1975, p. 4.
↑ Niklas Holzberg : Act of revenge and “negative prince mirror” or literary masquerade? New approach to an interpretation of the apocolocyntosis . In: Gymnasium 123 (2016), pp. 321–339.

[1] Cassius Dio, Roman History LX, 35.2 ff.

[2] Joachim Adamietz : The Roman satire. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1986, p. 363.

[3] Allan A. Lund: Introduction. In: L. Annaeus Seneca: Apocolocyntosis Divi Claudii (Scientific Commentaries on Greek and Latin Writers). C. Winter, Heidelberg 1994, p. 18.

[4] James Ker: Seneca, man of many genres. In: Katharina Volk , Gareth Williams: Seeing Seneca Whole. Perspectives on Philosophy, Poetry and Politics. Brill, Leiden / Boston 2006, pp. 19–41, here p. 31.

[5] Daniel Hooley: Roman Satire (Blackwell Introductions to the Classical World). Blackwell Publishing, Malden 2007, esp.p. 144 f.

[6] Apocolocyntosis , 12.2. See also Anton Bauer: Notes. In: L. Annaeus Seneca: Apocolocyntosis. The gourd of the emperor Claudius. Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1981, p. 64, note 108.

[7] Miriam T. Griffin : Imago Vitae Suae. In: John G. Fitch (ed.): Seneca ( Oxford Readings in Classical Studies ). Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2008, pp. 23–58, here p. 43 f.

[8] Gregor Maurach: Introduction. In the S. (Ed.): Seneca as a philosopher. (= Ways of Research, Vol. CCCCXIV), Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1975, p. 4.

[9] Niklas Holzberg : Act of revenge and “negative prince mirror” or literary masquerade? New approach to an interpretation of the apocolocyntosis . In: Gymnasium 123 (2016), pp. 321–339.