Rating: 
Summary: I, was unbelievable
Review: Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, or just Claudis to his friends lived from 10 B.C. to 54 A.D. and survived getting people to think he was an idiot. He lived through Augustus, Tiberius, and a real nut Caligula to become emperor in 41 A.D. , I, Claudius is written in the form of Claudius' autobiography. I enjoyed most of it very much, I had a problem with some of it sounding too far fetched. Mr. Graves does not make the unbelieveable believable. I want to compare it to Gore Vidal's Julian which I think is a much better book. Mr. Vidal has a much better grasp of dialog and plot movement. And Mr. Vidal made me believe the unbelievable.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging, informed fiction of early Imperial Rome
Review: The hardest part of reading "I, Claudius" and its sequel "Claudius the God" is remembering that it is, after all, fiction. Robert Graves, known for his quirky interpretations of other myths ("The White Goddess" and "King Jesus") turns his attention to the family history of the Julio-Claudian emperors and paints an immediately engaging picture of the fourth Emperor, Claudius, and his complex, lusty and frequently murderous family. Claudius himself was historically regarded as a buffoon and a fool, ruled by his wives and his freedmen. Graves stands that characterization on its head, making his narrator a bookish, intelligent, but physically inept bit-player in the history of early Empire. His survival and accession to the throne, indeed, are based on the low opinion held of him by others, who don't see him as worth eliminating, and Claudius plays this up (in this, Graves may have been making a nod to later biographers who saw more calculation than accident in Claudius' eventual pre-eminence.) This benignly deceptive Claudius is one of the more ambiguous characters in the novel; most of the other major players are more simply drawn. The honorable, industrious but not terribly bright Augustus, his ambitious and thoroughly amoral wife Livia, the mad Caligula and ill-fated and entirely good Germanicus are clearly depicted. The intrigues that swirl around the Imperial family are myriad and complex; many minor characters die untimely and others are framed and exiled, while at times it seems only the mad and bad have any hope of prevailing. This is where the grain of salt must come in in the reading; Graves sympathizes powerfully with Claudius, and ultimately the story shows him up well. But even as the reader shakes his head over Caligula's excesses, or is infuriated by Livia's careless disposal of problematic relatives, he would do well to remember that this is a story of events almost two thousand years in the past. As such, it's nothing more than interpretation of history- but one that's well worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: The auspices are favorable...
Review: There isn't a single negative comment that can be raised against Robert Graves' magnum opus, the "I, Claudius" series. The work is sublime, transcendent, spectacularly well-written...and always engaging. Every page is dripping with humor and intrigue, kings and pretenders, savages and aesthetes. This is the quintessential work by an amazing classicist, scholar and man. "I, Claudius" recounts Imperial Rome (from Augustus to Nero) from the perspective of a stuttering, half-lamed, studied dim-wit, the Emperor Claudius. Using Suetonius and Tacitus as his main sources, Graves constructs a marvelous narrative of the precocious and turbulent time that was Rome's imperial birth, childhood and adolescence. Certainly, Octavian (later Augustus) was the father of Imperial Rome, but it is with plots and debauches of subsequent rulers that Graves' story really comes alive. At the close of the first book, we're presented with the death of the completely deranged, self-styled god, Caligula, and the rise to power, as long prophesied, of Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus (Claudius), the "fool" of the ancient Claudian family, the stammerer...and, at long last, the Emperor of Rome! Reading Tacitus and Suetonius, it's easy to see why Graves would be inspired to fictionalize such a history. The pages...these so-called histories read like tabloid sensations, military annals and superstitious prayer books all rolled into one. Graves does a marvelous job of capturing the essence of one of the most famous periods in Western history. Livy, Tacitus, Suetonius, Pollio: eat your heart out. Graves wins the day!
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Summary: Seminal work of historic near-fiction
Review:
Great book that gives a fictionalized but realistic and compelling account of life in the Imperial Roman Court during and after the death of Ceasar.
This book will hook you, and then drag you willingly through the well-written pages. If you've ever wondered how what life was like during Ancient Rome, this is the book that can sum it up for you without causing tears of boredom. The book may cause a few tears, though, as it has plenty of tragedy and sorrow.
Graves brings amazing life to ancient Rome, and puts real character to some of the most famous Romans. This book should be used in high school history classes, though its quite readable for adults, too.
-- JJ Timmins
Rating:
Summary: A must read for all ages!
Review: I, Claudius is definitely my favorite book of all time. I read this book last spring as a 12 year old and I understood everything perfectly! It is a clear concise book about Tiberius Claudius, Emperor of the Roman Empire.
This book is sure to capture anyone's interest. It is part thriller, part history. It keeps you on your toes and makes you ask for more. You should not judge this book by its cover. The book and its cover may seem boring, just like Claudius himself, but you'll find out that there's more than one story behind him. I really believe you'll find his grandmother and uncle quite interesting, along with the well known Caligula to add to the twists and turns of the plot. Claudius is definitely the hero, even though he is crippled and a known studderer, he shines like no one else does and you'll feel sorry and happy for him as you read. So if you are looking for a book to satisfy more than one urge in reading (hopefully history and mystery), then I, Claudius by Robert Graves is the book for you! Happy Reading!
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Summary: Greatness achieved
Review: Robert Graves is one of those Britons who spent his early adulthood in the trenches of WWI and returned home to attain greatness in the field of literature; I, Claudius is a large contribution to that greatness. Graves became a scholar of classical mythology (his work is still highly regarded), and it was this line of work that led him to conceive this fine piece of literature. I, Claudius combines accurate history, a classical education, and (most importantly) an individual voice that shines clearly whether the narration is first-person or largely third-person, to create a highly detailed story that feels as if it really is the memoir of Tiberius Claudius. This book will be interesting and entertaining to anyone interested in authors who are WWI veterans, historical fiction, the Roman Empire, history, or -- of course -- excellent literature.
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Summary: Those naughty Romans
Review: After you finish "I, Claudius" you'll probably be sighing in relief that you weren't born into Roman nobility at the end of the first century BC. Because that would mean you'd have had wealth and political influence during the time of Augustus's scheming wife Livia and the tyrannical reigns of Emperors Tiberius and Caligula, which could have easily meant total loss of wealth and quite possibly death (and the deaths of all members of your family) if you so much as looked at any of them cross-eyed. Claudius is the nervous stammering weakling in the background, ridiculed by nearly all the royal family but relatively safe on account of those same shortcomings. He witnesses and lives through the many terrors and murders that the helpless upper crust of Rome suffers at the hands of the Caesars and their families and friends. The few noble-hearted members of the family are systematically wiped out as well, to prevent them from returning power to the Senate and making Rome a republic again. Graves based this work (and the sequel Claudius the God) on Claudius's actual autobiography. Clearly many of the details must be fictional (i.e. what was on the menu on such and such night, words said during conversations, etc.), but all major events and many of the minor plot elements are ostensibly substantiated by historical text and hence are probably true to fact. That's scary. How can politics within a single city get as ridiculously inane and out of touch with regard for human life as portrayed in this work? Then again we need to remember that the Roman people condoned the spectacle of people killing each other for sport, so their thought patterns were obviously different from ours today. The Roman empire was a civilization, certainly. A *modern* civilization (with regard to Western core values as taught today), no. Replete with wit and humor, "I, Claudius" is undoubtedly one of last century's masterworks in literature. Step into Claudius's shoes and warp back two thousand years to the epicenter of the largest ancient empire ever created. Enter the royal palace and be privy to secret plotting of heinous crimes necessary to retain power within the family. And shudder. Because you can't do anything about it, you're just a camera and microphone. You can't help the victims of the plots, even when you know that they could prevent or at least slow the decline of the empire. It's all about power. Wait until you discover Livia's true purpose in all her scheming! Or read about how the insane Caligula handles the reins of the empire. A must read for all fans of history and anyone who just likes a good story.
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Summary: Claudius a Fool? No. His Grandmother a Murderess? Maybe.
Review: I, Claudius is a fictional account of the autobiography of Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus Britannicus Augustus Caesar (although this I'm sure is not correct, it's something to that effect), High Pontiff, Protector of the People, Consul many times over, etc., and in my estimation is one of the finest examples of literature in the English language. It tells of how the "fool of the family" outlived most of his relatives amid all sorts of intrigues, such as the mysterious circumstances surrounding the deaths of young Marcellus, brothers Gaius and Lucius, who were Augustus's grandsons by his daughter Julia from his first wife Scribonia and the elder Marcellus, all three of whom were in line to succeed Augustus before Tiberius until Livia, Augustus's second wife and mother of Tiberius and Drusus, who also died mysteriously, as did his son Germanicus, Claudius's elder brother, both of whom were known supporters of a republican form of government rather than a monarchical one, by her first husband Tiberius Claudius Nero,interceded on her son's behalf, albeit through murderous machinations (or were they?), so as to make Tiberius Emperor, and how Gaius, better known to posterity as Caligula, Claudius's nephew, followed him to the throne, and how upon his assassination Claudius was proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard, the Emperor's personal bodyguard, by playing the part [of the fool] to become Emperor in 41 A.D. Thus the stage is set for a fascinating interpretation of life in the royal household of ancient Rome during the time of the Caesars. But better yet, it reads like a novel (because it is one), and due to the subject matter, which is rife with mystery, murder, and mayhem, it is impossible to put down (I myself got so caught up in it that I would read well into the evening hours). The opening chapter or two is told from the perspective of Claudius as an old man looking back at his autobiography. His story begins many years before his birth, which is 10 B.C., and thus the information contained therein he has compiled from various sources. But there is a point, however, at which he weaves his own personal experiences with the rest of the narrative, which does not disturb the flow of the rest of the book but rather gives it an additional dimension which aids in its comprehension. Please note that because this is a fictional account, there is much that is only mere speculation, so don't accept everything you read as the way something happened just because Robert Graves says so. And that's about all I have to say about that. Happy reading!
Rating:
Summary: Far and Away the Best Book I Have Ever Read!
Review: This book has it all from intrigue, interesting characters, great pace, storyline and yes a whole lot of history. This book is the ultimate revenge of the nerd story. Claudius considered a buffoon and taken advantage his whole life, has the last laugh in the end when he is made emperor of the mightiest nation on Earth! Claudius, born with some physical deformities that hamper his walking, make his mouth dribble at times, and to constantly stutter is considered to be an idiot by most. With Graves telling in the first person we see that Claudius is in fact a great intellectual with amazing insight into the world. He deals with so many interesting personalities (Livia, Tiberius, Caligula, and Herod to name a few). He is used badly by the evil ones and he watches as one-by-one the good ones meet very untimely deaths. Claudius meets with someone wise to the ways of the empire who gives Claudius the best advice, which is that as long as the power seeker feel Claudius is no threat they will keep him alive. Therefore, Claudius should exagerate his informaties and make those evil doers feel he is dumber than they think and therefore no threat. This ultimately keeps him alive and after Rome has gone through two of the most corrupt Emperors of all-time (Caligula and Tiberius), Rome is eager to have an emperor who can be controlled easily and thus, the job of emperor is thrust upon Claudius. Claudius has his own ideas though and that includes restoring Rome to a Republic. But that is left for the sequel book which I highly recommend too. I have read this book three times and it never gets boring.
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Summary: Transcends history
Review: Robert Graves' "autobiography" of Claudius is told with such vividity that it is easy to forget that it is a work of fiction, much less one which was written in 1934. It is too bad that history books do not bring these ancient figures alive as well as I, Claudius does.
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