I, Claudius (1934)

I picked up I Claudius and Claudius the God, because I remembered really liking the BBC Series, which we watched in Latin Class. I approached the first book with some caution, not sure if they would live up to the TV series, after all, these books were written almost 80 years ago. I was not disappointed. They're great. Really great. It is written in a manner that projects a lot of authenticity, yet very pleasant to read.

'I Claudius' deals with Claudius' childhood up until Caligula's assassination, in the form of an autobiography. 'Claudius the God' describes Claudius' life as emperor of Rome until his death.

It's obvious that Graves knows his stuff and that he has done a lot of research. Granted, he does portray some of the wild stories that Suetonius and the like wrote about as being true, and most historians will tell you to take this with a pinch of salt. But hey, I remember loving those stories in my Latin classes, the crazier the better. I adored Caligula, he was just awesome. Horse elected senator, war against Neptune, oh man. Good stuff.

So many times while reading these, I came upon facts, or names or whatever and I would have an 'ohhhh yeah!' moment and remember things that I'd been taught years ago. These two books are a must-read for people who are interested in Roman stuff. Graves does tend to go into a lot of detail, so make sure you're a total geek before you start. Myself, nine times out of ten, I was very interested. And there's always epic battles, murder, deceit, banishment and adultery to mix things up.

Personally, I enjoyed the first book a little more than the second one, but that might be because the first one has historical V.I.P.'s such as Caligula and Augustus (who is, by the way, probably a little slower and a little more pussywhipped than the real Augustus was), but they are both still very much recommended. By me. ( )

I, Claudius is an utterly unputdownable historical fiction about Imperial Ancient Rome in all its political gore and glory. Packed with political machinations and scheming straight from the (fictional) autobiography written by Roman Emperor Claudius, the famed The Idiot/Roman mythology's Vulcan, this novel is engrossingly twisty and sneaky. More than a telling of his life and his absurdly incidental nomination to power—with a feign of stupidity used as one of his advantages—this also covers Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula's reign. To say the manipulations and betrayals are driven by personal interests alone is only dust on the surface. The insistence of these plots necessary for the good of the Roman Empire reexamines the characters' actions and decisions. Graves' I, Claudius has no pause for any dry or dull moment either; everything is written in exact humour and wit. And due to the superb quality of the novel, there are times when its historical inaccuracies become incontestable and difficult to separate from the historical truths of one of the most sweeping and influential civilisations of humankind. Sumptuously controversial and pleasurably conniving, how there is brutality, horror, and greed in such an advance culture also absolutely magnifies society's glaring regressions and stagnancies. And by god, it's not in any way shocking at all but still a note to take: the senators then haven't got a hair's width of difference with the senators of today. You kind of wish we still have the Stairs of Mourning. ( )

It hasn't really taken me 16 months to read this...

The first book I've finished in our brand new year is I Claudius, the fictional autobiography of the accidental emperor of Ancient Rome, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus (10BC-AD54). I wanted to read it because of my interest in Ancient Rome (which I studied at university when I did Classics.)

For those of us of a certain age, it's impossible to read this book without remembering the characters from the 1976 BBC series starring Derek Jacobi. It's still available in various re-mastered editions, and it's still good entertainment despite showing its age in terms of special effects, scenery and costuming.

The book, however, is a bit arduous to read. My edition comes in at 395 pages, but the font is small and dense, and most modern editions are 450+ pages. Robert Graves (1895-1985) based his historical novel on real events in the early Roman Empire using Tacitus and Suetonius as sources, and he spares his readers no detail. Since the participants in the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty were an ambitious lot, much given to disposing of rivals in a variety of duplicitous ways, they adopted alternative heirs and successors willy-nilly and made things harder to follow by being wilfully unimaginative in naming offspring with the same old names over and over again. Which is why, when I started this book way back in August 2019, I abandoned it at page 67 and watched the TV series on DVD to clarify who was what and which ones had been bumped off and why. I then progressed to page 177 but the book got moved off the coffee table to make way for 2019 Christmas revelry (which we were allowed to have in those pre-Covid days, remember?) And then I forgot about it, except when I looked at my Goodreads 'currently reading' status, where it dropped down lower and lower as other shiny new books took its place.

So in very late 2020 I had to start at the beginning again...

The take-home message, cleared of all the murders and plots and depravity, is that somehow Rome was by and large a stable society. Yes there were assorted 'barbarians' at the borders that needed to be quelled, but the enthusiasm for that was largely because soldiers and their leaders were handsomely rewarded. It's telling that when Claudius slinks off to his estate to avoid the horror of Caligula's lunatic reign, his slave Calpurnia is able to help him restore his financial fortunes. She hasn't needed to spend the money he gave her in return for her wise advice; it's there to help him out after Caligula has bled him dry. While the Senate is too craven to rein in any emperor's excesses, the ordinary people went on farming and selling produce and paying their taxes, largely free of the shenanigans in Rome.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/01/05/i-claudius-by-robert-graves/ ( )

I think for its time it was an achievement to put voice to this ancient cast of depraved tyrants, but I found it rather impersonal, repetitive. and dry. The narrative is clear, but there isn't much lyricism, humour, or dramatic detail. There are also a number of historical side bars that bog things down. Diagramming the complex royal family tree was the fun part. Published today, I doubt something like this would do very well. ( )

Written in first person with Claudius, the stutterer, as the narrator. This book portrayed the increasingly brutal and mad reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula. The least "impressive" of the caesars was Claudius. With several important people named Tiberias and Nero, it was a bit difficult to keep people straight. I actually had to pull a family tree off the net to follow along intelligently. Most of the time I don't really like to work that hard to follow along. 472 pages ( )