Donato Fasolini

The reasons underlying the composition and dating of the Apocolocyntosis, a satirical pamphlet traditionally ascribed to Seneca, are debated. Among its manifold aims (parody of Claudius’ divinization? Nero’s political manifesto? Attack against Agrippina?) the analysis of some passages points to that of discrediting Agrippina in the eyes of his son. With regard to the dating the author’s polemic intent against Agrippina would suggest that the Apocolocyntosis was written before her death (A.D. 59), whereas the highly violenct tone leads to the conclusion that it cannot have been composed in the earliest years of Nero’s reign, when Agrippina still had considerable influence.