"I, Claudius"

[Octavia]

I also agree with all of you. I read the books, I claudius and Claudius the god as well as seing the felm, and they all are excilent! I am also new here and glad to be on this forum. Caligula always cracks me up, especially when he's talking to someone about the river god threatening to drown him. And woow! You don't want to make Augustus mad! Lol!

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, guys!

 

I liked the books, and I loved the TV series, not surprisingly like most of the people who gave his/her opinion here.

 

The TV series in particular was an endless procession of outstanding performances.

 

At first, I thought of this stuff as some kind of discovering of a hidden history.

 

Later, the inconsistencies were progressively more evident to me; I found especially hard to swallow the descriptions of poisoning, so abundant and critical for the story.

 

But what finally made me face what appears to be the plain facts was a brief quote of Suetonius (Life of Claudius, ch. 29):

 

"He condemned to death five and thirty senators, and above three hundred Roman knights,"

 

Not a bad score.

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

But what finally made me face what appears to be the plain facts was a brief quote of Suetonius (Life of Claudius, ch. 29):

 

"He condemned to death five and thirty senators, and above three hundred Roman knights,"

 

Not a bad score.

 

It just goes to show that as good as the TV series was it was after all just a TV series and not historical fact therefore it should be enjoyed but where the truths concerned should be taken with a pinch of salt.

 

But also I must point out that when it comes to the truth, Suetonius was as guilty as a modern day journalist for stretching and distorting the truth, so I guess that although Suetonius is one of the great classic historians, his writings did sometimes read a bit like a novel.

 

We all know that Claudius wasn't just some bumbling favorite uncle type of Emperor, he couldn't have survived and reigned for the length of time that he did with out having a vicious, ruthless streak that was possessed by all the other great men before and after Claudius'.

 

Does any of the other Classic historian mention the deed mentioned by Suetonius in their writings I wonder?

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, GPM.

 

"It just goes to show that as good as the TV series was it was after all just a TV series and not historical fact therefore it should be enjoyed but where the truths concerned should be taken with a pinch of salt."

 

That was certainly not my point. The main idea of the series (and the books) was to depict Claudius as a benevolent and almost harmless human being. His score with senators and knights is hardly compatible with that nice image, and at less for me, that's bigger than a pinch of salt.

 

"But also I must point out that when it comes to the truth, Suetonius was as guilty as a modern day journalist for stretching and distorting the truth, so I guess that although Suetonius is one of the great classic historians, his writings did sometimes read a bit like a novel."

 

I totally agree. In fact, maybe you were not harsh enough. Suetonius was a a crude negative propagandist for his patrons (Trajan and Hadrian) and loved gossip intensely.

 

But as far as I know, the figures I quoted are commonly accepted by most historians.

 

"Does any of the other Classic historian mention the deed mentioned by Suetonius in their writings I wonder?"

 

For one, here comes one of Claudius contemporaries, Seneca the younger (Apocolocyntosis, sec. XIV)

 

"Senators killed, thirty-five; Roman knights, two hundred and twenty-one"

 

Many Emperors got Damnatio Memoriae for far less than that. Claudius' exception was presumably because he was deified by Nero (for his own benefit, of course).

 

Having said that, this TV series is my favourite by far regarding ancient Rome; you can't even compare it with HBO's Rome.

 

Cheers and good luck!

Edited July 30, 2007 by ASCLEPIADES

[Octavia]

I totally agree again about the television series. I love it. I also think the series left out a lot of stuff because they want Claudius depicted as you have mentioned. So I wonder which historian would be a good acountto read about his life?

[Primus Pilus]

So I wonder which historian would be a good acountto read about his life?

 

Unfortunately, Claudius has largely been ignored by recent biographers, but Barbara Levick provides a reasonably acceptable bio. Claudius

[ASCLEPIADES]

So I wonder which historian would be a good acountto read about his life?

 

Unfortunately, Claudius has largely been ignored by recent biographers, but Barbara Levick provides a reasonably acceptable bio. Claudius

This book apparently shows a constant and even rising conflict between this Emperor and the Senate, especially the old Patrician families, even if it was more or less a common tendency to all this Dynasty.

[Silentium]

Honestly, it is such a pity that the Italians are missing this excellent series..I wonder why it was never translated.

[Camilla Optima]

I watched I claudius for the first time last year (in 2 days when i was home sick hehe), and I think it was a wonderful series! I think the charachters are well written, with the exeption of the Augustus character. I think he comes across as way too much of a social butterfly, and he does not strike me as so intelligent. I think the real Augustus was quieter and more cold/calculating, as well as incredibly intelligent. I think that the young Octavian in HBO's Rome gives a good picture of what I think he would have been like as a kid. I dont think the new Octavian is quite as good, but Im getting used to him I guess.

 

Camilla Optima