num_pages: 232
description: Perhaps the strangest and most strikingly modern work to survive from the ancient world, The Satyricon relates the hilarious mock epic adventures of the impotent Encolpius, and his struggle to regain virility. Here Petronius brilliantly brings to life the courtesans, legacy-hunters, pompous professors and dissolute priestesses of the age and, above all, Trimalchio, the archetypal self-made millionaire whose pretentious vulgarity on an insanely grand scale makes him one of the great comic characters in literature. Seneca's The Apocolocyntosis, a malicious skit on the deification of Claudius the Clod', was designed by the author to ingratiate himself with Nero, who was Claudius' successor. Together, the two provide a powerful insight into a darkly fascinating period of Roman history.
language: English
title: The Satyricon and The Apocolocyntosis
titlecomplete: The Satyricon and The Apocolocyntosis
genres: Fiction, Humor, Classics, Ancient, Classical Studies, Ancient History, Roman, Literature, Poetry, Novels
ratings_count: 1491
publisher: Penguin Classics