I, Claudius

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 show more 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. show less

This is a fictional biography, although filled with actual events. Robert Graves gave Claudius a voice and personality - and what a personality! Intrigues and depravity were frequent but a speech impediment and physical handicap made Claudius appear innocuous, an unappealing target. He took to writing a history that made this into a gossipy journal that would give modern scandal sheets a run for their money. Reading it reminded me of a tv series I loved of the same name featuring Derek Jacobi and William Hurt that was broadcast a few decades ago. Excellent reading.

Something that I find so satisfying about I, Claudius is that Graves uses his mix of historical accuracy and dramatization to make the characters read much like the legendary figures that Claudius so often references. It is at once both a detailed Roman epic and a racy late-night soap opera. By all rights I should've struggled much harder to engage with a book this long-winded. Much of I, Claudius moves at a truly glacial pace, but quiet frankly upon finishing it I find I don't begrudge that because it suits the material so well. Graves has a razor sharp intelligent and wit, the prose so competent, that it hardly feels like it matters what he's writing about; I found myself pulled in immediately, from Claudius describing the lives of show more his grandparents, to his sudden and thrilling ascendancy to the throne, and the many self-indulgent tangents in-between. The novel really opened up for me about one hundred pages in, when Claudius has a conversation/argument with Livy and Pollio. Graves' is excellent at crafting dialogue, which often serves as much needed break between the walls of Claudius' descriptions. Similarly engaging are the written notes between Augustus and Livia.

Maybe it's just me, but I can't help but feel like Graves' characterization was a massive inspiration for George R.R. Martin in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, so much so that Martin's book is tarnished to some degree. Certainly I, Claudius must be inspiration for lots of fantasy and historical fiction writers, but that comparison specifically stuck out to me like a sore thumb.

Though the ending is an anticlimactic let down after all that build up, I personally do not feel compelled with a need to read the second book in the duology right away. I have a feeling that Graves will bring me back up to speed with the characters I need to know regardless of how long I take to read it. show less

Claudius, fourth Emperor of Rome, is said to have composed an autobiography now lost to history. In the 1930s a cash-strapped Robert Graves decided to try filling in this blank with a two-volume fictional work. In this first volume, he has Claudius describe the rule of the first three Emperors, all of whom he knew during his lifetime. It is as wonderful a companion to Tacitus' Annals as I had hoped. It fills in the story of Augustus which Tacitus spent little time on, and clarifies the crimes of Tiberias (whom I'd found at least somewhat sympathetic, but not at all now). Tacitus' coverage of Caligula has been lost but it's all here. I doubt whether Graves selected Claudius as his narrator so much for the purpose of redeeming his image show more (although in this first volume at least he certainly does that), as much as because he could tell the story of the early Roman Empire from an ideal point of view.

This fictional memoir approach makes it comparable to Yourcenar's account of Hadrian. This is not as dense, but both heavily rely on telling more than showing, and feature an enormous amount of detailed family relationships, military maneuvers and political machinations. They differ in two significant respects. For one, Robert Graves waxes more poetic than Yourcenar - literally, in his recounting of invented prophecies, quoting from Homer, etc. Secondly, Graves in particular is a wizard at completing our knowledge of events beyond what's recorded. I was too often forgetting that I was reading fiction, wondering in surprise about some astonishing fact before I had to remember that it wasn't (necessarily) how events actually occurred. Graves writes a very plausible and often exciting story, one that makes an enormous villain out of Livia and a victim out of Julia, swaps Postumus with his impersonator, attributes definitive blame for various deaths, and does various other tricks. I picked up on a few of these thanks to other reading (e.g. Tacitus) and by referring to the internet, but I'm sure I missed a few gems. An annotated edition of this novel would be brilliant, if it could cite through endnotes which parts of the narrative can be found in contemporary sources and which appear to be invented.

I would suggest that nothing Graves speculated is entirely implausible. He adheres to the known history, and what makes this so fascinating is that quite possibly he's guessed right on all counts. Who can say now? show less

Engrossing, fascinating, disturbing, with deadpan humour shining through at times. I really liked Claudius as a narrator and character (especially Claudius' conversation with Caligula when the latter decided that he was a god - priceless).
It was very impressive how Robert Graves made me believe that I was reading a real autobiography of Claudius. I had to remind myself that it's historical FICTION...

I found it a bit challenging to keep track of who was who and the (dysfunctional) imperial family relationships - somebody should have included a family tree/a chart in the book. But I am not complaining...

P.S. I remember being very interested in Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars when I was small, while digging through my grandparents' show more bookshelves. Obviously, it was something about Ancient Rome, and the author had a cool name. But I never got around to reading it, there were so many other books... Since my book club had chosen "I, Claudius", could it be a sign that it's time for me to read "The Twelve Caesars"? show less

I loved, loved, loved this book! Claudius, grandnephew of Augustus Caesar, a stutterer, a gimp, thought to be an idiot--tells his story, and that of his grandmother Livia (Augustus Caesar's last wife) and granduncle Augustus Ceasar, as well as his uncle Tiberius Caesar's and his nephew Caligula's lives and reigns. And what an amazing, horrific, exciting, unbelievable story it is. Modern-day politics and scandals are nothing compared to Rome in all its glory. I vaguely remember (I was in high school then) that there was a PBS series based on "I, Claudius" starring Derek Jacobi during the 1970s. I would love to see this series, and see what the makers of the series "Rome" would do with this novel in the present.

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 show more 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. show less