Why is Seneca’s Pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius considered political satire?

Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii (often translated as "The Pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius") is considered political satire because it serves as a pitiless, witty, and unscrupulous skit that ridicules the apotheosis (deification) of the late emperor Claudius.312

The work functions as political satire by attacking the character and administration of the deceased emperor in several ways:

• Personal Ridicule: It mocks Claudius’s physical appearance and his speaking ability.3
• Administrative Critique: It portrays him as an arbitrary judge who issued legal rulings without fair hearings and summarily ordered the executions of senators, knights, and relatives.3
• Historical Alignment: The depiction of Claudius in the satire aligns with the accounts of later Roman historians who focused on the unpopular aspects of his reign, contrasting with the official narrative of his divinity.3

By deriding the Senate's decree of Claudius's divinity, Seneca used this medley of prose and verse to challenge the political legacy of the man who had previously sent him into exile.312