The Emperor Claudius died in 54 AD, on October 13, probably poisoned by his wife Agrippina and his stepson Nero. He was buried solemnly and at the time his death was attributed to natural causes.

On the occasion, Seneca wrote both the Laudatio funebris recited by Nero and the Apocolocyntosis (viz. trasformation into a pumpkin), a satyre in prose and verse, also known as Ludus de morte Claudii, where he ridicules the Emperor's deification.

Seneca composed the work in order to avenge himself for the years he had lived as an exile in Corsica between 41 and 49 AD by order of Claudius. He imagines that the dead Emperor ascends to Mount Olympus hoping to become a God amongst Gods, but is refused entrance and sent to the Underworld instead where he becomes slave to his nephew Caligula and to his freedman Menander.