 "How many twisted stories still remain to be straightened out?", 2006-07-26
Published in 1934, poet Robert Graves's _I, Claudius_ tells the story of Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, known in Roman history as Claudius--an historian, a crippled stutterer, and widely regarded as an idiot. Claudius is isolated from the treachery of the Roman court during the years immediately after the death of Christ, protected by the fact that no one takes him seriously enough to want to assassinate him. Ultimately, however, Claudius ascends to the throne of the Roman Empire in 41 A.D. and rules brilliantly until he is assassinated in 54 A.D.
Through the first person narrative of Claudius, Graves tells the story from the beginning of the Christian era until Claudius's death fifty years later, recording the horrors visited on the Roman people by his family's rulers. Claudius's grandmother Livia, widow of Caesar Augustus--and one of the most treacherous women in history--manipulates the imperial succession through poisonings, assassinations, marriages, and secret alliances. The reign of her son Tiberius is bloody, murderous, and corrupt. His brother, the good soldier Drusus, is kept in foreign lands until he can be assassinated. Tiberius's succession by Caligula, his grandson and the protégé of Livia, takes Rome into even more terrifying debauchery. Claudius's ultimate succession to the throne upon the death of Caligula, his insane nephew, is regarded as a joke by the court--the installation of an idiot who will not challenge the imperialists. Ironically, Claudius is discovered to be a republican.
This first person account, with virtually no scenes of direct action, defies the first rule of novel-writing: to recreate, not "tell about" actions. Here every aspect of Roman history is filtered through the mind of Claudius, who "tells about" all the action as he knows it. Claudius, however, is so perceptive and so full of fascinating information about the characters and their motivations, that the reader creates his/her own action scenes from the information revealed by Claudius. Through Claudius, whom the reader comes to admire, the reader is able to evaluate what is happening in ways that direct-action scenes, with all their superficial excitement, do not allow.
Characters are complex, fully developed humans, instead of cardboard, costumed "ancients," and their machinations, though extremely bloody, show the conflicts that occur when absolute rule and republican sentiments contend for dominance, a conflict in which Graves says he saw parallels to World War I and its aftermath. Giving a new view of Claudius from what had traditionally been accepted, Graves's portrayal is historically accurate (based on then-new information) and psychologically perceptive, a brilliant novel which sets the standard for historical fiction. Mary Whipple
The best of the best., 2008-04-19
Re-reading old favourites has become a bit of a habit with me lately - simply because there are few new authors with half the talent of Robert Graves.
As one reviewer points out, quite rightly, this isn't history, but the reader can't help but wish it to be true. The character of Claudius is so well drawn and accounts so well for the paradoxies evident in the historical accounts of him that you feel it must be right. There is nothing in the story that cannot be verified in Suetonius or Tacitus and Graves' handling of the material leaves the reader with nothing but admiration for his explanation of those facts.
Truly magnificent.
History coming alive, 2007-10-24
"I, Claudius" and its sequel "Claudius the God" are definitely amongst the best books ever written on Imperial Rome, and quite probably amongst the best historical novels on any age or subject. No novelist could have devised a better plot than the actual events in those days, with fascinating characters such as Augustus, Livia, Germanicus, Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius himself, and an empireal court rife with intrigue and plotting, but I've never known it told better than Graves does.
It's a book that demands your full attention and concentration, just to keep track of the countless family ties, feuds and plots, but in fact that's part of the attraction. A breath-taking story, by a master storyteller who knows his subject matter extremely well!
A remarkable work of fiction, 2008-12-25
"I, Claudius" is a wonderful tale of the rise of Claudius from bumbling uncle of the infamous Caligula to the most powerful man on earth. Set against a factual background, "I Claudius" skilfully dramatises the series of unfolding events from Claudius' personal point of view.
This book is also a great introduction to classical history and did more for me than the many hours of sitting through Classical Studies classes at school (where I seem to remember spending more time drawing vases, than doing anything else).
British readers should remember that the Emperor Claudius eventually succeeded where Julius Caesar had failed - i.e. he established the Roman conquest of Britannia (thus triggering 400 or so years of occupation and all the subsequent social, cultural and infrastructural elements that resulted from that).
Overall, a great book from a writer who also experienced much adversity (e.g. during World War One).
 Readable and compelling but not necessarily historically accurate, 2006-10-18
For so many people I, Claudius is THE novel about the first years of the Roman Empire and so has conditioned our whole reception of Rome and the rule of the emperors - and how Robert Graves would have laughed if he could have predicted that! Written as a 'pot-boiler' because he needed the cash, Graves deliberately fashions a decadent, immoral and corrupt milieu that has now passed into historical fact.
As a translator of Suetonius and Tacitus, two of the major sources he uses for his fictions, Graves is completely aware that both men had political agendas of their own when they chose to portray Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula etc in the way he did. Livia hardly gets a mention, along with the other imperial women, and Suetonius' portrait of Claudius himself is far less avuncular than Graves'.
Having said that, both this and the sequel Claudius the God are excellent novels: but just don't automatically assume they're also history because they're not.
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