Week 2: I, Claudius - Robert Graves

Absolutely loved this book! I must confess that when I decided to base my readings on a list of 'best books' I was a little apprehensive. I have never been overly fond of 'intellectual' books. Give me a good bestseller any day. Nothing like a good murder or evil plot to get the juices flowing. Anyway, I didn't expect to come across an awesome book so soon in the game. Maybe it is not much of a surprise that I will like a book filed under the historical fiction category. But less about me and more about the book.


It is a fictional autobiography of the emperor Claudius who ruled Rome from AD 41 to 54. It starts in the reign of Augustus till the crowning of Claudius. Claudius is the family fool- deformed , stuttering, drooling – which in a strange way is his ticket to not only life but also success. His infirmity undermines his intellect in the eyes of his enemies letting him survive two crazy emperors – Tiberius ,the crazy and Caligula , the insane. He is the sole survivor of his family – surviving by a combination of being underestimated, playing the fool, being inconsequential, intellect, and most of all by not being ambitious.

Claudius makes a very engaging narrator and Rome in its imperial days an equally fascinating story. My favorite characters were Livia and Caligula. Livia, is a central character in the story. Claudius' grandmother and wife of Augustus; she is a snaky, villainous, ruthless woman with a single minded devotion to further Rome and herself. Or should it be herself and Rome? Anyway I just love the way she poisons pretty much everyone who comes into her orbit. I wonder if there is any truth or maybe just fictionalized? I want to believe that she was really that evil- much more interesting that way.

My second favorite character was the downright insane Caligula. He loves his horse Incitatus so much that he made the horse a citizen, a senator and a consul. He would invite the horse to his dinners. Again, I am not sure if this was true but I completely believe it, because I want to. It is a wonder how Rome maintained its empire being ruled by such crazies. Maybe I will discover that when I read the other books in the list – like Twelve Caesars?