I, Claudius

[Poetaster]

Sorry if there is already a thread on this book.

Who has read I, Claudius by Robert Graves? What did you think of it?

I've managed to get a copy in barter, a nice leatherbound copy of it, and I've heard a lot about it. But I don't know anything about it.

[Sarabande]

I read this book about 45 years ago and I remember thinking it was rather dull. There was a film made of it in the 1930's, starring Charles Laughton. The film was doomed because Laughton had lost confidence in his performance and the whole thing was canned. A documentary was made about it in 1965 and it's absolutely fascinating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUbt0sweIjI

Then there was the BBC series of the 1970's too, if I remember correctly.

[kev67]

I read it when I was twenty, about 27 years ago. I thought it was a great read, along with Claudius the God. I was too young to watch the BBC series, which had a great theme tune.

[Pompey Bum]

I read it around 30 years ago and loved it. Graves' voice is gently detached and scholarly, even as the horror of events closes around the narrator. Like any historical fiction, of course, it should not be taken as a critical history. Graves' research was prodigious and he had a reason for every detail, but his scholarship was notoriously eccentric, and some of his ideas about the period are even less accepted today than when he wrote.

But oddly enough, that is part of the book's charm. His eccentric and scholarly old Claudius seems of a piece with the eccentric and scholarly old Graves. The story is complicated, though, and the pace is consistent with the book's detached and reflective tone (although it picks up considerably as the narrative progresses). If you're looking for Gladiator, you've come to the wrong place. If the wild and somewhat unhinged Julio-Claudian period appeals to you, though, you can do no better.

For a more visceral Graves, by the way, I recommend Goodbye to All That, his memoir of the trenches. Not for the weak hearted.

I hope you enjoy the Claudius books, Poe.

[Ecurb]

I read "I Claudius" a several years ago and enjoyed it; it is filled with sex, intrigue, and interesting characters. It also teaches the reader about Roman history. I recently read "Augustus" by John Williams, which covers much of the same historical territory, and is an epistolary novel. It's also very good.

[Poetaster]

Thanks for the fantastic response everyone. :) I'm really looking forward to when I get around to this book. I'm currently doing an MA in English Literature, so my reading for pleasure is very limited sadly.

[Sarabande]

Thanks for the fantastic response everyone. :) I'm really looking forward to when I get around to this book. I'm currently doing an MA in English Literature, so my reading for pleasure is very limited sadly.

Good luck with the degree!! Something of great value to have in a lifetime.

[Zippy]

I, Claudius has to be one of my favourite books of all time. Robert Graves based it largely on The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius, dramatized for his book.

I have often thought that books like I, Claudius and Claudius the God should be given to history pupils. I feel as though I have learned more about Roman history from reading them than I did from reading any number of dry, academic books on the subject.

For me, the best parts are those that deal with Caligula, whose reign can scarcely be believed. You really get a sense of how terrified those around him are. It's an interesting insight into how tyrants rule by fear and how people let them get away with doing almost anything.

If you enjoy I, Claudius then I highly recommend Graves' Count Belisarius which is set in the late Byzantium Roman Empire. Belisarius is a very interesting historical character and one who deserves to be more widely known.

[kev67]

If you enjoy I, Claudius then I highly recommend Graves' Count Belisarius which is set in the late Byzantium Roman Empire. Belisarius is a very interesting historical character and one who deserves to be more widely known.

I should really get around to reading Count Belisarius since I enjoyed I Claudius so much. Somehow it never appealed so much.

[Pompey Bum]

I enjoyed Count Belisarius, too, although I would recommend the eyewitness historian Procopius (on whose writings Graves based the book) over it. Or read Graves and then read Procopius. Gibbon's account of the story is memorable, too. For those who don't know, Belisarius was a Byzantine general who managed to reconquer Italy and North Africa back from the Germanic tribes to which it had fallen (although Byzantium didn't hold them for long).

And while we are recommending historical novels, I used to love Julian, an early novel by Gore Vidal about Julian the Apostate, the last "pagan" emperor if Rome, who managed to return the empire back to polytheism for a brief time. As I remember, it was witty and rather gripping. Like I, Claudius, though, I haven't read it for decades, so I'm not sure how it would hold up. At the time, though, I preferred it to all the books we have discussed on this thread.