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I Claudius



If you have never seen it, you should really try to watch an old TV series from the 1970’s called I Claudius. I Claudius was a BBC miniseries that I believe first made its appearance on American television on Masterpiece Theater. The series is based on the books I Claudius, and Claudius the God by Robert Graves and gives us a look inside the Roman Empire from the middle of the reign of Augustus through the reign of Claudius. The emperor Claudius was called Claudius the Stammerer, or Claudius the Idiot. A stammerer he was, but if we are to believe Graves, Claudius was no idiot.
We follow the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula (yes, that Caligula) and Claudius. Most histories about the early Roman Empire use Tacitus as their source. Tacitus was a man of facts, names and dates (though he was not above throwing in a cutting remark now and then. When Graves wrote I Claudius he based his novelization of this period on the writings of Suetonius. In contrast to Tacitus, Suetonius wrote about rumors, scandals and juicy gossip. It made his work very popular. So with I Claudius, we get all the dirt. We get the things they don’t tell you about in history books: affairs, secret assassinations, incest, poisonings, subterfuge, and various debaucheries. Sometimes the series is funny, sometimes heartbreaking, but always fascinating.

One of the spectacular things about this series is the cast. It was the first time I had seen most of these actors, Derek Jacoby, Sian Phillips, Brian Blessed, Patrick Stewart, John Hurt, John Rhys-Davies, George Baker, to name a few. Because Claudius stammers when he speaks and walks with a limp, no one takes him seriously at court. And it is a dangerous court. Several of Claudius’s friends tell him to keep playing the fool because it is safer that way. Anyone related to the emperor (like Claudius) might find themselves mysteriously dead. Actually, it is not a mystery for the audience, as we know who is behind the deaths. It is Livia, the wife of Augustus, who was clearing the path for her son to become the next emperor. It would be a little bit like if Prince Phillip suddenly got the odd notion that he wanted Prince Andrew to be the next king of England, he would have to make sure that Charles, William and Harry and all their offspring died before the Queen did.

Livia is very good at getting what she wants. She is played with delicious evilness by Sian Phillips. One wonders if Geroge R.R. Martin used Livia as his model for Queen Cersei in the Game of Thrones books, Except that Livia is way smarter that Cersei, and more fun to watch.  I would say that it is worthwhile seeing the whole series just to watch Sian Phillips' performance, except that you could say the same thing about Brian Blessed who plays Augustus. Augustus is a dominant force for good while Livia is a dominant force for evil, but as in life, things are never black and white.

If you think political machinations in our own time are bad, we have nothing on the ancient Romans.

(My novel Star Liner, is now available as an e-book through Amazon, or the other usual online sources. For those who like to turn physical pages, the paperback will be out soon).

Star Liner

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