Here's one I bet you haven't read. I'm halfway through the second book of the pair, I've read them several times before and just wanted to touch base with it all again.
It's "I, Claudius" and its sequel, "Claudius the God" by British poet and writer Robert Graves. They were first published in 1934. I've also got his "The Greek Myths" (both volumes) which I'm using as research material.
"I, Claudius" was made into a TV mini-series (BBC TV) in the mid-70s, absolutely brilliant. We've got the DVDs as well. I found the detail in the history of Roman politics from Augustus through to Nero to be fascinating. The books come with a family tree at the back of each one. The first volume has the Caesars, the second volume the Herods (very complicated indeed, with uncles marrying nieces, divorcing, then other uncles marrying other nieces). There is a wonderful quote in the book about Herod the Great, who executed his favourite wife and two of their sons. later he executed another son (half-brother to the other two) and according to Robert Graves, Augustus referred to this by saying, "I would rather be Herod's pig than Herod's son." Apparently Herod the Great was a better Jew than a parent.
The books are written as the autobiography of Claudius, who was born into the Caesars (a murderous lot) as a weak, sickly child who had a number of lifelong disabilities which led people to believe for most of his life that he was "not the full quid" as we say in Australia. He had polio, walked with a limp, had bad tics, a stammer, aphasia at times, and at a time when the Body Beautiful was valued, was a thing of disgust to his family. And yet he outlived most of them because of his wits and nobody seeing him as a political rival, to become Emperor after the assassination of Caligula.
If you can find copies of them, I hope you will enjoy them. They can be dry reading at times because of the intense detail, but I am finding more with each reading.
If you can find the DVDs of the BBC mini-series you should enjoy that as well. There were some very good actors in it, some before they were well known. Patrick Stewart, for example, played Sejanus (a rather nasty piece of work, an ambitious soldier in the confidence of Tiberius); Caligula was terrifyingly played by John Hurt (he's the bloke who was the first victim in "Alien" who reprised the role in "Space Balls" in the cafeteria scene where he died saying, "Oh no, not again..."). Sian Phillips (Mrs Peter O'Toole at the time) was Livia, the Machiavellian murderous wife of Augustus. A very young John Rhys-Davies was Macro, another vicious bodyguard like Sejanus, only working for Caligula. And the main role of Claudius was played by Derek Jacobi, who you may not know, apart from a one episode role he played in "Frasier" as a snobbish Shakespearean actor (sending himself up well).
Derek Jacobi has also been in a series based on a medieval monk in Shrewsbury, a book series written by British author Ellis Peters about Brother Cadfael. They are medieval forensic murder mysteries. You would enjoy those as well, if you can get them - books as well as DVDs. They are a much easier read than "I, Claudius".
Ok, that's my review for the week.
Marg
