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Available
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Series
Collection
Publication
Vintage Books (1962), Edition: Reprint
Description
With the same brilliance that characterized his classic I, Claudius, Robert Graves continues the tumultuous life of the Roman who became emperor in spite of himself and his handicaps. Claudius the God reveals the splendor, vitality and decadence of the Roman Empire through the eyes of the wry and bemused Claudius who reigns as emperor for thirteen years. The crippled Claudius describes himself as the fool of the royal family, whom none of his ambitious and blood-thirsty relatives considered worth the trouble of killing. Once in the throne, however, he finds himself at last at the center of the political maelstrom.
Media reviews
Lecturalia
Tartamudo, tullido, despreciado por sus sanguinarios parientes (como su sobrino Calígula), Claudio, sin embargo, los sobrevive a todos, acompañado por su lasciva esposa, hasta caer asesinado a manos de Agripina, la madre del emperador Nerón.
User reviews
LibraryThing member uvula_fr_b4
If I liked this book very slightly less than its predecessor, I, Claudius, it's only because its scope is a trifle narrower: whereas I, Claudius was as much, if not more, a novel of the collapse of the Roman Republic and the birth of the Roman Empire as well as a semi-fictional biography of the
Of chief historical interest in Claudius the God is what might've been had Herod Agrippa realised his probable ambitions; Claudius using Graves' mythographer's eye (Graves had yet to publish The White Goddess or The Greek Myths) to discuss the odd Jewish cult that was beginning to call itself "Christian" (this part makes me want to pick up Graves' novel King Jesus someday); a wonderful account of Claudius' invasion of Britain (the part where Graves had to rely most heavily upon his imagination), which manages to be nearly as rousing, in its way, as the work of Robert E. Howard; and the long, slow train wreck that was his third marriage, to Valeria Messalina.
Unfortunately Claudius "conquers" Britain roughly halfway through the book (which is just shy of being 600 pages long), and he is such a dimbulb when it comes to the dealings of his wife Messalina that one nearly despairs of him ever learning the truth about her. I didn't realize how very young Messalina was when she married Claudius: she'd had two children by him by the time she was sixteen or seventeen. As a literary character, one cannot help but compare Claudius to Humbert Humbert, except that Claudius is even more deluded than Humbert was. One cannot deny the fact that Claudius had a definite taste for young stuff; this makes Gore Vidal's remark about Claudius in his review of Graves' translation of Suetonius -- that Claudius, of all the Roman emperors, had the most "normal" sexual tastes -- seem that much more fraught, if not out-and-out skeevy.
I really liked most of Graves' work-arounds to account for Claudius' odd behavior, save only for the one he came up with to explain his fourth (and fatal) marriage to his niece (and Caligula's sister...), Agrippina the Younger (or Agrippinilla, as she is called in the novel). I really question whether Claudius, in his grief over Messalina's eventual execution (and post-mortem decapitation as ordered by Agrippinilla...) and chagrin for his own blindness as regards her activities, really would've committed passive suicide for himself and his dynasty by marrying Agrippinilla: what works in a novel doesn't really work as a history. Yes, yes, Claudius the God is a novel; and yet Graves himself took some pains to silence his critics by underscoring the sheer volume of historical research that he put into it, so the criticism of being ahistorical is a valid one. (Graves can't have it both ways: either his novels are firmly grounded in history, or they are not. And yet, as Gore Vidal often wrote, "'Why' is a question that the historian must never ask and the novelist must always ask.")
In the wake of reading Anthony A. Barrett's Caligula: The Corruption of Power (1989), I have to wonder at Graves'/Claudius' portrayal of Caligula as being both mad and bad; on the other hand, Claudius' charm as a narrator does not, by any means, obviate the possibility that he has a hidden agenda for presenting events, particularly those leading to his enthronement, as he does, or preclude the possibility that he is less than truthful on some, if not many, occasions. Far from it....
Another notable feature of the two novels is that they each feature a villainous female master schemer: Livia, later Livia Augusta -- the emperor Augustus' third (and final) wife, Claudius' grandmother and Caligula's great-grandmother -- in I, Claudius, and Messalina in Claudius the God. It wouldn't be fair to say that Livia was more "moral" than Messalina: Livia also slept her way to the top, but she was fortunate enough to have done so in one step. Messalina seems to have been actuated more by a sexual monomania than Livia was: there are a lot of gaps in I, Claudius in which Livia could've hidden an equal number of lovers as Messalina had, but Livia's sex life was never the issue that Messalina made it.
I was much more aware while reading Claudius the God of the time in which it was written (Claudius the God was published in 1935) than I was while reading I, Claudius (published in 1934). The parallels between Romans and Britons are explicit in Claudius the God, whilst those between the various Germanic tribes and the Nazis are implicit. One could well imagine these two books, particularly the second one, being avidly read by British intellectuals during the Second World War for a bit of morale boosting. I wonder if the sales of these books increased during the war....
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Julio-Claudian dynasty that ruled Rome for nearly a hundred years as it was a putative autobiography of one of said dynasty's least probable emperors, Claudius the God is mostly a self-serving first-person account of said emperor's reign, which does not scruple to look at some of his notable failures. (But it should be remembered that there can be a sort of perverse pride in abasement as well as in vainglory.) Claudius the God, while frequently interesting (particularly to those who first became acquainted with Graves as a mythographer), has a drier, more insular tone than I, Claudius; and while Claudius the God opens with an interesting, longish digression into the life and fortune of Claudius' friend, King Herod Agrippa, the book cannot hope to match the range of time and scene that I, Claudius -- a book that is a good 150 pages shorter than Claudius the God -- encompasses. Of chief historical interest in Claudius the God is what might've been had Herod Agrippa realised his probable ambitions; Claudius using Graves' mythographer's eye (Graves had yet to publish The White Goddess or The Greek Myths) to discuss the odd Jewish cult that was beginning to call itself "Christian" (this part makes me want to pick up Graves' novel King Jesus someday); a wonderful account of Claudius' invasion of Britain (the part where Graves had to rely most heavily upon his imagination), which manages to be nearly as rousing, in its way, as the work of Robert E. Howard; and the long, slow train wreck that was his third marriage, to Valeria Messalina.
Unfortunately Claudius "conquers" Britain roughly halfway through the book (which is just shy of being 600 pages long), and he is such a dimbulb when it comes to the dealings of his wife Messalina that one nearly despairs of him ever learning the truth about her. I didn't realize how very young Messalina was when she married Claudius: she'd had two children by him by the time she was sixteen or seventeen. As a literary character, one cannot help but compare Claudius to Humbert Humbert, except that Claudius is even more deluded than Humbert was. One cannot deny the fact that Claudius had a definite taste for young stuff; this makes Gore Vidal's remark about Claudius in his review of Graves' translation of Suetonius -- that Claudius, of all the Roman emperors, had the most "normal" sexual tastes -- seem that much more fraught, if not out-and-out skeevy.
I really liked most of Graves' work-arounds to account for Claudius' odd behavior, save only for the one he came up with to explain his fourth (and fatal) marriage to his niece (and Caligula's sister...), Agrippina the Younger (or Agrippinilla, as she is called in the novel). I really question whether Claudius, in his grief over Messalina's eventual execution (and post-mortem decapitation as ordered by Agrippinilla...) and chagrin for his own blindness as regards her activities, really would've committed passive suicide for himself and his dynasty by marrying Agrippinilla: what works in a novel doesn't really work as a history. Yes, yes, Claudius the God is a novel; and yet Graves himself took some pains to silence his critics by underscoring the sheer volume of historical research that he put into it, so the criticism of being ahistorical is a valid one. (Graves can't have it both ways: either his novels are firmly grounded in history, or they are not. And yet, as Gore Vidal often wrote, "'Why' is a question that the historian must never ask and the novelist must always ask.")
In the wake of reading Anthony A. Barrett's Caligula: The Corruption of Power (1989), I have to wonder at Graves'/Claudius' portrayal of Caligula as being both mad and bad; on the other hand, Claudius' charm as a narrator does not, by any means, obviate the possibility that he has a hidden agenda for presenting events, particularly those leading to his enthronement, as he does, or preclude the possibility that he is less than truthful on some, if not many, occasions. Far from it....
Another notable feature of the two novels is that they each feature a villainous female master schemer: Livia, later Livia Augusta -- the emperor Augustus' third (and final) wife, Claudius' grandmother and Caligula's great-grandmother -- in I, Claudius, and Messalina in Claudius the God. It wouldn't be fair to say that Livia was more "moral" than Messalina: Livia also slept her way to the top, but she was fortunate enough to have done so in one step. Messalina seems to have been actuated more by a sexual monomania than Livia was: there are a lot of gaps in I, Claudius in which Livia could've hidden an equal number of lovers as Messalina had, but Livia's sex life was never the issue that Messalina made it.
I was much more aware while reading Claudius the God of the time in which it was written (Claudius the God was published in 1935) than I was while reading I, Claudius (published in 1934). The parallels between Romans and Britons are explicit in Claudius the God, whilst those between the various Germanic tribes and the Nazis are implicit. One could well imagine these two books, particularly the second one, being avidly read by British intellectuals during the Second World War for a bit of morale boosting. I wonder if the sales of these books increased during the war....
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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
I have to echo the LibraryThing reviewer who said that if this sequel to I, Claudius is less impressive than the first book, it's because it's narrower in scope. I, Claudius isn't just this faux autobiography, it gave a run through of the members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty prior to
That said, this book is still an engaging read, and among the richest, best written works of historical fiction I've ever read. I've read Graves felt he was slumming it in his Claudius books, but it certainly doesn't come through. The picture he paints of early Christianity and Roman-era Britain is particularly fascinating. I only regret it's so hard to find more of Graves historical fiction in print. I loved his King Jesus, a story of a historical Jesus--married to Mary Magdalene--and published in 1946. Way, way before that travesty of a novel, The Da Vinci Code. But he also wrote other novels about the ancient world, such as Count Belisarius and Hercules, My Shipmate and Homer's Daughter I'd love to read. The Claudius books are his most famous though, and definitely where to start.
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Claudius--Livia, Augustus and Germanicus made quite the impression in that first book, which ended with Claudius being raised to Emperor of Rome. The focus in this book is his short reign of little more than a decade. And while the first book allows us to think of Claudius as crafty and only pretending to be an idiot (at least if you've never read Graves' source, Suetonius' Twelve Caesars), that's a lot harder here where he comes across as so, so clueless, at least in his personal life.That said, this book is still an engaging read, and among the richest, best written works of historical fiction I've ever read. I've read Graves felt he was slumming it in his Claudius books, but it certainly doesn't come through. The picture he paints of early Christianity and Roman-era Britain is particularly fascinating. I only regret it's so hard to find more of Graves historical fiction in print. I loved his King Jesus, a story of a historical Jesus--married to Mary Magdalene--and published in 1946. Way, way before that travesty of a novel, The Da Vinci Code. But he also wrote other novels about the ancient world, such as Count Belisarius and Hercules, My Shipmate and Homer's Daughter I'd love to read. The Claudius books are his most famous though, and definitely where to start.
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LibraryThing member Ghost_Boy
As much as I liked the first book, I liked the second one even better. I think the religious conflict helped this story a bit. I also like Robert Graves' writing overall. He makes it convincing that Claudius wrote the book and not him. In my opinion, this is some of the best historical fiction I've
Before Robert Graves, I didn't really have any interest in Roman emperors or even Roman History. I always thought it was boring. After reading these two Claudius books I was proven wrong. Not only is it interesting, but exciting. Maybe it's because of the scandals and murder that make it interesting to me.
In someways, I wish there was a third book or more to this book, but there is not. Claudius eventually dies at the end and there isn't any reason to continue the story. However, Graves wrote a lot of books and there are other books about Claudius out there. For me, this is only the end of the beginning.
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read in a long time.Before Robert Graves, I didn't really have any interest in Roman emperors or even Roman History. I always thought it was boring. After reading these two Claudius books I was proven wrong. Not only is it interesting, but exciting. Maybe it's because of the scandals and murder that make it interesting to me.
In someways, I wish there was a third book or more to this book, but there is not. Claudius eventually dies at the end and there isn't any reason to continue the story. However, Graves wrote a lot of books and there are other books about Claudius out there. For me, this is only the end of the beginning.
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LibraryThing member wildbill
This is the second volume in a two volume biography written by Robert Graves in 1934 and 1935. It was the basis for the I Claudius series that was produced in 1976 with Derek Jacobi playing the part of Claudius. A lot of the material was taken from the biography of Claudius in the book Twelve
Claudius was Emperor of Rome from 41 to 54 c.e. the the 5th of the Julio-Claudian emperors. Growing up he had some physical afflictions and was shoved in background by his family. He became Emperor after the assassination of Caligula when he was pulled out from his hiding place behind a curtain by a member of the Praetorian Guard who then proclaimed him Emperor.
The book is very well written with a lot of details about Roman life at this time. Since Claudius was the Emperor a lot of the book is about the business of running the Roman government and the politics of Claudius' era.
Some of the superstitious practices set out in the book are humorous. In the section on the Roman invasion of Britain the night before the big battle they brought out some sacred chickens and watched how they ate the sacred cakes. The chickens gobbled up the cakes which was a portent of victory in the battle. The Romans often consulted different auguries and had an extensive calendar of religious rites and sacrifices.
The campaign in Britain was one of the highlights of the book. It portrayed the Roman Army in action against the chariot army of the natives of Britain. Clauduis' marriages were a highlight of his personal life. He had no luck with women. His third wife, Messalina cheated on him constantly and the consensus is that his fourth wife Agrippina had him poisoned.
Claudius' best friend was Herod Agrippa. They met in Rome as boys and continued their friendship until Agrippa's death. They called each other brigand (Herod) and marmoset (Claudius) In their correspondence after Herod became ruler of Judea is an interesting commentary on the life of Jesus Christ.
Claudius supposedly had ambitions to bring back the Roman Republic but toward the end of the book his outlook changes. He became more fatalistic and supposedly knew he was taking poison when he was handed the fatal mushroom.
This book is an entertaining way to learn something about Ancient Rome. The details of Claudius' life are questionable but they make a good story. After reading this book I don't think I would have wanted the life of a Roman Emperor.
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Caesars by Suetonius.Claudius was Emperor of Rome from 41 to 54 c.e. the the 5th of the Julio-Claudian emperors. Growing up he had some physical afflictions and was shoved in background by his family. He became Emperor after the assassination of Caligula when he was pulled out from his hiding place behind a curtain by a member of the Praetorian Guard who then proclaimed him Emperor.
The book is very well written with a lot of details about Roman life at this time. Since Claudius was the Emperor a lot of the book is about the business of running the Roman government and the politics of Claudius' era.
Some of the superstitious practices set out in the book are humorous. In the section on the Roman invasion of Britain the night before the big battle they brought out some sacred chickens and watched how they ate the sacred cakes. The chickens gobbled up the cakes which was a portent of victory in the battle. The Romans often consulted different auguries and had an extensive calendar of religious rites and sacrifices.
The campaign in Britain was one of the highlights of the book. It portrayed the Roman Army in action against the chariot army of the natives of Britain. Clauduis' marriages were a highlight of his personal life. He had no luck with women. His third wife, Messalina cheated on him constantly and the consensus is that his fourth wife Agrippina had him poisoned.
Claudius' best friend was Herod Agrippa. They met in Rome as boys and continued their friendship until Agrippa's death. They called each other brigand (Herod) and marmoset (Claudius) In their correspondence after Herod became ruler of Judea is an interesting commentary on the life of Jesus Christ.
Claudius supposedly had ambitions to bring back the Roman Republic but toward the end of the book his outlook changes. He became more fatalistic and supposedly knew he was taking poison when he was handed the fatal mushroom.
This book is an entertaining way to learn something about Ancient Rome. The details of Claudius' life are questionable but they make a good story. After reading this book I don't think I would have wanted the life of a Roman Emperor.
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LibraryThing member chuckzak
I, Claudius and this book are the greatest additions to the ancient histories of Tacitus and Suetonius, at least until we hopefully - someday - discover the lost chapters of Tacitus' history of the early emperors. Wouldn't that be a great day? This is fiction, of course, but presented in similar,
As sympathetic as Claudius is, he is a product of the barbarity of his age as well, but it's a fascinating barbarity that coexists with complex bureaucracies and philosophies untainted by the intervening era of Christianity. Ultimately, it's a tragedy for the uniquely brave Emperor, God or not, especially knowing what was to follow. Great read, though, and very entertaining, informative and bloody soap opera.
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matter-of-fact style and filled with the same barrage of murderous intrigue and tyranny. What percentage of this is fact, I am not sure, though I imagine quite a lot of it is. But it's overall "factiness" just adds to the fascination of the story. How did they do it, those crazy Romans? As sympathetic as Claudius is, he is a product of the barbarity of his age as well, but it's a fascinating barbarity that coexists with complex bureaucracies and philosophies untainted by the intervening era of Christianity. Ultimately, it's a tragedy for the uniquely brave Emperor, God or not, especially knowing what was to follow. Great read, though, and very entertaining, informative and bloody soap opera.
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LibraryThing member superpeer
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
'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 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.
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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 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.
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LibraryThing member RobertP
Great read. 80 years old, still worth it. Leaves one wondering how in Hell the Romans managed to hang in for centuries after the julio-Claudians.
LibraryThing member Mitchell_Bergeson_Jr
This and I,Claudius are historical fiction at its finest. Claudius The God is much longer and slower in some places, but I think it's a more nuance look at the times than it's predecessor. Highly recommended.
LibraryThing member PilgrimJess
“Most men—it is my experience—are neither virtuous nor scoundrels, good-hearted nor bad-hearted. They are a little of one thing and a little of the other and nothing for any length of time: ignoble mediocrities.”
Claudius the God is the sequel to I, Claudius, and takes up the story two
Claudius's private life though is a mess and portrayed as easily manipulted by his various wives in particular the promiscuous and debauched Messalina's. This gives a certain poignancy to the overall tale. Claudius wants to abdicate and restore the Republic but soon realises that ironically he is the only one that does .The Empire's elite are merely jockeying for position and power whilst the Army and the people themselves seem to prefer a strong autocrat as a leader. So reluctantly he is forced to carry on until in his sixty-fourth year he is seemingly finally murdered.
Without the sheer madness of Caligula of the first novel this one loses some of that humour but that said this novel is a worthy finale to Graves' powerful and original overview of this interesting and barbaric period in history IMHO. A period of history that is still recognisable today.
Claudius the God is the sequel to I, Claudius, and takes up the story two
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tears after Claudius was made emperor and after telling the backstory of Claudius' charismatic friend Herod Agrippa, concentrates on the 13 year tenure of Claudius. Claudius survived his murderous predecessors chiefly because he was thought too stupid to be a threat and of as a harmless fool, However, when he becomes Emperor he generally proves himself to be quite adept with his public life, recovering the eagles lost by Varus in the German forest, made Ostia a thriving port, wrote a dictionary and conquered Britain.Claudius's private life though is a mess and portrayed as easily manipulted by his various wives in particular the promiscuous and debauched Messalina's. This gives a certain poignancy to the overall tale. Claudius wants to abdicate and restore the Republic but soon realises that ironically he is the only one that does .The Empire's elite are merely jockeying for position and power whilst the Army and the people themselves seem to prefer a strong autocrat as a leader. So reluctantly he is forced to carry on until in his sixty-fourth year he is seemingly finally murdered.
Without the sheer madness of Caligula of the first novel this one loses some of that humour but that said this novel is a worthy finale to Graves' powerful and original overview of this interesting and barbaric period in history IMHO. A period of history that is still recognisable today.
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LibraryThing member john257hopper
A rich sequel to the magnificent I, Claudius. This is historical fiction of a type that is almost non-fiction and the style is instantly recognisable to anyone who has read Suetonius's Twelve Caesars. My only criticism is the extensive use of jarring anachronisms for places, e.g. France not Gaul,
I am making a big deal of these minor points simply because they slighlty mar otherwise excellent writing. This is superb literature.
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St Bernard's Pass and Brentwood (!) and a reference to Germans having a Fatherland; and terminology such as regiments, battalions and companies instead of legions, cohorts, and centuries. These references are all totally unnecessary; anyone reading a book like this is going to be able to cope with equivelent Roman or Latin terms given in a glossary. In addition, there is no family tree of the Julio-Claudians in this Penguin edition as there is the equivalent edition of I, Claudius, which is fairly indispensable to keeping track of the complex Imperial family tree. I am making a big deal of these minor points simply because they slighlty mar otherwise excellent writing. This is superb literature.
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LibraryThing member datrappert
The second (and much sadder) half of the story of Emperor Claudius of Rome. Essential reading if you have read the first half, but it will make you a bit sad. For all his faults, we came to rather admire Claudius in the first book, but in this one he is not quite as secretly capable, or--more
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importantly--lucky. Show Less
LibraryThing member nicky_too
Eventhough I still like the person Claudius as portrayed in this book, I found this one more difficult to read than "I, Claudius". There are, in my opinion, too many 'exact' copies of speeches and statements. They are written in a more flowery way and sometimes rather boring.
Other than that, the
It feels like there's somewhat less intrige and scandal than in the first book, but I wonder if that's really the case.
If you like "I, Claudius", you really should finish the man's life's story and read this one too.
Other than that, the
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story is still quite good and the character equally fascinating.It feels like there's somewhat less intrige and scandal than in the first book, but I wonder if that's really the case.
If you like "I, Claudius", you really should finish the man's life's story and read this one too.
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LibraryThing member gerleliz
Good book but not as good as the first
LibraryThing member charlie68
An entertaining trip through Rome and the Empire during the reign of Claudius. Told through the eyes of Claudius, starting from his surprise naming of emperor to his death by poisoning by Agripallina. Insightful.
LibraryThing member Teresa1966
Historical fiction disguised as a memoir. Claudius is not a difficult read - it's actually most entertaining.
LibraryThing member JVioland
Continues where I, Claudius left off. Brilliant.
LibraryThing member pcollins
Fantastic read but not as good as I, Claudius.
LibraryThing member csleh
Great book. Regularly re-read this and the first book, I Claudius.
LibraryThing member harrietbrown
This follow-up novel to Robert Graves' classic, "I, Claudius" continues the life story of the Roman Emperor Tiberius Claudius. It begins immediately following where the previous novel left off, and ends with his death under mysterious circumstances, and his deification.
LibraryThing member Marse
"Claudius, the God" continues Robert Graves' story of the Emperor Claudius beginning just after he is crowned emperor and continues to his death. It is, like the prior book "I, Claudius", a first-person narrative. The fascinating story continues and though not quite as exciting as the first novel
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(Claudius was not as wild and depraved as Tiberius or Caligula), the story keeps moving, the conspiracies keep mounting and his end, though not unexpected, was presented with a twist that catches our breath. Claudius' friendship with Herod Agrippa who was the King Herod in the Acts of the Apostles, grandson of Herod the Great and nephew of Herod Antipas who had John the Baptist beheaded, is a truly wonderful tale. I knew nothing about this Herod and the history of Judea and the surrounding kingdoms during the Roman empire, but I want to know more now. Though this is a book of fiction (Claudius did not write this autobiography), Graves tells us in the introduction that none of the characters or events are made up, only his interpretation of the events are speculative. Amazing!! Show Less
LibraryThing member mattries37315
For most of his life a historian survived his murderous family to become the leader of one of the greatest empires in history, now he must rule. Claudius the God is Robert Graves historical fiction follow-up to I, Claudius as the now fourth Emperor of Rome continues his secret autobiography that
This sequel focuses on Claudius’ time as Emperor, primarily up to fall of his wife Messalina, except at the beginning when the life of Herod Agrippa so that Claudius could explain how Herod helped him become Emperor. Throughout the book Claudius tells how he wants to undo the damage his uncle and nephew have caused and fulfill Augustus dream of retiring and allowing the Republic to return. However after Claudius learns of his wife’s secret life and his near overthrow, he comes to the conclusion that Rome needs a worse emperor than Tiberius and Caligula combine for the Republic to the be restored. Like the first book, Graves presents Claudius as a believable person with high hopes that see them dashed against reality while also presenting a great first-person narrative that uses Suetonius and Tacitus as primary sources that gives the reader a look into Roman history without it being dry.
Claudius the God brings the life of the fourth Roman Emperor to it’s conclusion as Robert Graves once again gives the reader a great character to follow throughout the book.
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focuses on his time as Caesar.This sequel focuses on Claudius’ time as Emperor, primarily up to fall of his wife Messalina, except at the beginning when the life of Herod Agrippa so that Claudius could explain how Herod helped him become Emperor. Throughout the book Claudius tells how he wants to undo the damage his uncle and nephew have caused and fulfill Augustus dream of retiring and allowing the Republic to return. However after Claudius learns of his wife’s secret life and his near overthrow, he comes to the conclusion that Rome needs a worse emperor than Tiberius and Caligula combine for the Republic to the be restored. Like the first book, Graves presents Claudius as a believable person with high hopes that see them dashed against reality while also presenting a great first-person narrative that uses Suetonius and Tacitus as primary sources that gives the reader a look into Roman history without it being dry.
Claudius the God brings the life of the fourth Roman Emperor to it’s conclusion as Robert Graves once again gives the reader a great character to follow throughout the book.
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Subjects
Awards
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Winner — Fiction — 1934)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1934
Physical description
583 p.
Local notes
DD This is the second volume in Graves' biographical novel about Claudius.
Other editions
Claudius the God and his wife Messalina by Robert Graves (Paperback)