I, Claudius

Novels

Historical context

Claudius was the fourth Emperor of the Roman Empire, from AD 41 to 54. A grandson of Mark Antony and great-nephew of Augustus, he was a member of the Julio-Claudian family, Rome's first imperial ruling family. Claudius' family kept him out of public life until his sudden coronation at the age of fifty because of his persistent stammer, limp, and other nervous tics, which caused others to perceive him as mentally deficient and not a threat to his ambitious relatives. Even as his symptoms began to wane in his teenage years, he ran into trouble as a budding historian; his work on a history of the Roman civil wars was either too truthful or too critical of the reigning emperor Augustus, and his mother Antonia Minor and grandmother Livia quickly put a stop to it. This episode reinforced their initial suspicions that Claudius was not fit for public office.

Claudius was portrayed this way by scholars for most of history, and Graves uses these peculiarities to develop a sympathetic character whose survival in a murderous dynasty depends upon his family's incorrect assumption that he is a harmless idiot. Graves' interpretation of the story owes much to the histories of Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, Plutarch, and (especially) Suetonius' Lives of the Twelve Caesars. Graves translated Suetonius before writing the novels and claimed that after reading Suetonius, Claudius came to him in a dream one night and demanded that his real story be told. The life of Claudius provided Graves with a way to write about the first four emperors of Rome from an intimate point of view. I, Claudius is written as a first-person narrative of Roman history from Claudius' perspective, covering the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula; Claudius the God is written as a later addition documenting Claudius' own reign. The real Claudius was a trained historian and is known to have written an autobiography (now lost) in eight books that covered the same period.

Graves provides a theme for the story by having the fictional Claudius describe a visit to Cumae, where he receives a prophecy in verse from the Sibyl and an additional prophecy contained in a book of "Sibylline Curiosities". The latter concerns the fates of the "hairy ones" (i.e. the Caesars – from the Latin word "caesar", meaning "a fine head of hair") who are to rule Rome. The penultimate verse concerns his reign and Claudius assumes that he can tell the identity of the last emperor described in the prophecy. Graves establishes a fatalistic tone that plays out at the end of Claudius the God when Claudius correctly predicts his assassination and succession by Nero.

I, Claudius

Writing in the first-person (from an unspecified time period, presumably late in his own reign as emperor), Claudius establishes himself as the author of this history of his family and insists on writing the truth, which includes harsh criticisms of the deified Augustus and especially of Livia. The narrative begins prior to his own birth, as he describes many of the events leading to the foundation of the Roman Principate and the increasingly firm emplacement of Augustus as emperor despite Augustus' own publicly expressed intention to eventually restore the former Republic. During his prosperous reign, Augustus is plagued by personal losses as his favoured heirs, Marcellus, Marcus Agrippa, Gaius Caesar, and Lucius Caesar, die. Claudius reveals that these untimely deaths are all the machinations of Augustus' third wife Livia (who is also Claudius' paternal grandmother), a calculating murderess who seeks to make her son Tiberius (Claudius' uncle) succeed Augustus as the next emperor.

As these intrigues occur, the sickly Claudius is born and is immediately shunned and mocked by his family. Only his brother Germanicus and his cousin Postumus treat him with any kindness. He is eventually given a great tutor, the reputable historian Athenodorus, who fosters a love of history and republican government in the young Claudius. During these early years, Claudius is advised by his idol Asinius Pollio to play the fool to survive.

Postumus is eventually framed for raping Claudius' sister Livilla and beating his own niece Aemilia; Augustus has him banished to an island off the coast of Italy, but not before Postumus reveals the truth to Claudius. Claudius then passes this on to Germanicus, who convinces Augustus of Postumus' innocence. Augustus exchanges the exiled Postumus with a double named Clemens and secretly writes a will restoring Postumus as his heir, but Livia manages to discover this and poisons Augustus.

Upon Augustus' death, Tiberius is declared emperor, though his mother Livia retains her power and influence as empress. The Roman legions campaigning in Germany refuse to accept the unpopular Tiberius and begin to mutiny, instead declaring Germanicus emperor. Shocked and confused, Germanicus refuses, declaring his loyalty to Tiberius. He sends his wife Agrippina and youngest son Caligula away from the military frontier and asks Claudius for an enormous sum of money to pay the soldiers. Claudius agrees and pretends that they are gambling debts. With the money and the return of Caligula, Germanicus ends the mutiny and leads several successful campaigns in Germany.

Claudius the God

The story begins with an apology by Claudius for having ended his first history on a dramatic point and continues with a brief history of his friend Herod Agrippa. Herod was a schoolmate of Claudius and was liked by Claudius' mother Antonia. Herod always finds himself in debts and danger in the East and in Rome. He eventually gains the favour of Caligula and is made King of Bashan. Herod is in Rome when Caligula is assassinated and quickly is able to convince Claudius to accept the emperorship in order to avoid civil war.

Claudius reluctantly executes Cassius Chaerea and several of the other assassins and begins tirelessly working for the sake of Rome. He applies himself to the law courts, demonstrates his intelligence in being able to locate one of Augustus' lost Eagles, and orders the building of a harbour in Ostia to help preserve the Roman food supply. Claudius is also able to quell two mutinies and conquers Britain.

Herod Agrippa conspires to take over the East, as he regards himself as the Messiah. When he announces this he breaks the First Commandment by declaring himself a god. Herod quickly dies a painful death, just as his grandfather had died, imploring Claudius to forgive him and not to trust anyone.

Throughout Claudius' reign he is unwittingly manipulated by his adulterous wife Messalina, who kills many of her enemies as well as being involved in bribery. She eventually conspires to usurp the monarchy with her lover Gaius Silius. Claudius is distraught and crushed by this news and is given an "Olympian Mixture" in order to manage through the ordeal. Claudius arrests Silius and the leaders of the coup. Messalina is executed without Claudius' consent and Claudius has no reaction during his "Olympian" state, even bemusedly joking about being worshipped as a god in Britain.

On being relieved of the "Olympian Mixture", Claudius is crushed and decides that the only way the Republic can be restored is by having a true mad monarch rather than the reign of a benevolent one. Comparing himself to the fable of the frogs who desired a King, Claudius privately refers to himself as "Old King Log" and plays a weak and easily manipulated fool. He then incestuously marries his niece Agrippinilla, whom he openly despises. In his feeble old age Claudius excessively enjoys gladiatorial games, is often intoxicated, and makes himself oblivious to Agrippinilla's schemes to gain power and make her son Nero emperor. Foreseeing that Nero will be a terrible ruler, Claudius plans on having his son Britannicus removed to live with the Northern Britons and later to return as Rome's saviour. Britannicus refuses and admits that while he loves the Republic, the Republic is dead and he wants to challenge Nero for the right to rule Rome as an emperor. Dismayed, Claudius agrees, knowing that he is sending his son to his death. Claudius resignedly accepts that his death will be soon with numerous signs suggesting such.

Literary significance

The I, Claudius novels became massively popular when published, both in 1934. In addition to instant popularity and enormous sales the books soon gained literary recognition; they were collectively awarded the 1934 James Tait Black Prize for fiction. Along with his autobiography, Good-Bye to All That, they remain Graves' best known work. Graves later claimed that the novels were written only from financial need on a strict deadline. Nonetheless, they are today regarded as pioneering masterpieces of historical fiction.

At the time of its original publication, Peter Monro Jack of The New York Times wrote: "Mr. Graves has made a fascinating novel out of [Claudius], and of the Rome of his times a piece of first-rate historical writing."

Adaptations

German translation

When the time came to translate the novels into German, Graves, who spoke the language, decided instead to rework them into a one volume edition. He collaborated with translator Hans Rothe and they jointly produced a shortened edition which left out the many digressions which were incorporated into the English original, with the aim of presenting Claudius' story in a clearer and more effective way. The contents of the books were thus roughly cut down to a half. The book is published as Ich, Claudius, Kaiser und Gott (I, Claudius, Emperor and God) with Graves being styled Robert von Ranke Graves, which is how he is credited in all German editions of his works. Adolf Hitler, in the grip of acute insect phobia after the turn of the tide on Operation Barbarossa in late 1942, reportedly read this edition.

Film and television

In 1937, abortive attempts were made to adapt the first book into a film by the film director Josef von Sternberg. The producer was Alexander Korda, who was then married to Merle Oberon, who was cast as Claudius' wife Messalina. Emlyn Williams was cast as Caligula, Charles Laughton was cast as Claudius, and Flora Robson was cast as Livia. Filming was abandoned after Oberon was injured in a serious motor car accident.

In 1976, BBC Television adapted the book and its sequel into the popular TV serial I, Claudius, starring Derek Jacobi, Siân Phillips, Brian Blessed, and John Hurt. The production was awarded three BAFTAs in 1977 and an Emmy in 1978.

In 2008, Relativity Media obtained the rights to produce a new film adaptation of I, Claudius. Jim Sheridan was named as director. In 2011, rights then passed to HBO and BBC2 to film a miniseries adaptation. Jane Tranter and Anne Thomopoulos, who previously worked on HBO/BBC2's miniseries Rome were named as producers. Neither was produced.

Radio

In November and December 2010, as part of the Classic Serial strand, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a series of six hour-long episodes of a dramatisation of both novels, adapted by Robin Brooks and directed by Jonquil Panting. Performers were Derek Jacobi, Tom Goodman-Hill and full cast. It won the 2012 Audie Award in the "Audio Dramatization" category.

Comics

An episode from "Claudius the God" was adapted for comics in the EC Comics Two-Fisted Tales #36, in a story titled "Battle!", written by Colin Dwakins and drawn by Reed Crandall.

Theatre

The novel has also been adapted for theatre. The 1972 production I, Claudius was written by John Mortimer and starred David Warner.

Audio

Several audio recordings of the novel have been produced. Derek Jacobi performed two separate readings of the novel, both as abridged versions, one for Dove Audio (1986) and one for CSA Word (2007). Nelson Runger performed unabridged readings of both I, Claudius and Claudius the God for Recorded Books (1987). Jonathan Oliver performed an unabridged reading for ISIS Audio Books (1988). Frederick Davidson performed an unabridged reading for Blackstone Audio (1994).

Opera

The novel has also been adapted for opera by Igor Escudero under the title I, Claudius and Claudius the God (2019).

The three parts, or chapters, that form the trilogy are titled Livia, Caligula and Claudius the God, and have been conceived to be performed not only sequentially, but also separately.

Legacy

A. E. van Vogt's 1950s science fiction novels Empire of the Atom and The Wizard of Linn drew heavily from the plot of Graves' Claudius novels, to the point of reusing slightly altered character names. For these reasons the critic Damon Knight has said their plots were "lifted almost bodily" from that of I, Claudius.

George R. R. Martin, the author of The Song of Ice and Fire series (1996—present), has spoken of the inspiration he took from I, Claudius. He especially noted the resemblance Stannis Baratheon bore to Tiberius Caesar, particularly as portrayed by George Baker in the 1976 BBC television adaptation.

David Chase, creator and showrunner of the acclaimed 1999 HBO series The Sopranos has spoken highly of the book, calling it one of his favourite works of fiction. While Chase has stopped short of drawing a direct connection, many have compared the Machiavellian Livia Soprano to Claudius' grandmother, Livia Drusilla. These suspicious tend to find confirmation in the maiden name Chase selected for Livia—Pollio, one shared by Gaius Asinius Pollio, who makes a decisive appearance in I, Claudius.

I, Claudia is a 2001 one-woman play written by Kristen Thomson. The play and its 2004 CBC adaptation recount the difficult transition into adolescence of Claudia, a 12-year-old girl struggling with her parents' divorce. Thomson played all of the roles, using masks to change character.