I, Claudius

        Q

What a great read.  Had real fun reading this.  OK! It hasn't all been easy going,parts were a bit boring. This is not written in an explicit style like Game of Thrones but hey, this is where Game of Thrones, the Borgias and the Sopranos all get their inspiration. Life in Rome at this time had it all going on! Constant Wars,  treachery, murder, incest, poisoning, banishment, feeding dead prisoners to the hungry animals in the Coliseum  pit, turning your horse into a top politician, insanity, orgies, poisonings, physical disability, recessions,  deranged power crazed Grandmothers and wise whores. 

All of the kinky daubauched stuff is implied and not actually described MUCH but it's all there and what fun Robert Graves must have had hiding behind the secret diaries of Claudius. The narrator of this story. An intelligent,low profile member of the 'family' who manages to keep a low profile by hiding behind his stammer and his physical deformities.  One of his great teachers, Athenodorus, told Claudius as a boy to ham up the stammer and the limp whilst in public as this acting would keep him alive.  This was great advice and Claudius ends up being Emperor after the insane 4 year rule of his nephew, Caligula and the previous rules of his Uncles, Tiberius and Augustus. These two emperors were both under the control of evil Grandmother Livia.  She is so evil she is almost funny!   She kills off anyone who she thinks is a threat to her family rule but yet, she keeps the empire under control and seems to run things fairly well from the sidelines in my opinion.  It's only when she dies and Caligula takes over that things go completely bonkers!  What a brilliantly insane guy. Surely all the shagging he does of anything with a heart beat  is just beyond ridiculous and as for cutting costs by feeding prisoners to the hungry animals in the Coliseum  pits and turning his beloved horse into a revered member of the consel is just hilarious! I can't believe that he was able to be Emperor for 4 years until he was assassinated.  

The book ends with Caligula's death and Claudius ready to take over the reins but I need a break from Ancient Rome now and part two will have to wait! Plus Robert Grave's 1930s writing style did get a bit turgid at times!  The complicated family trees were a bit of a nightmare, I spent most of my time flipping to the crap family tree at the back trying to work out who is plotting against who, who is shagging who, who is poisoning who .etc.   my Mum has told me I must watch the BBC 1970s adaptation. She said it was pretty raunchy for the time. One night when I want a laugh I might try and find it out on YouTube.