The historical Claudius was also known to be an avid historian and even wrote his own autobiography in 8 volumes (which, unfortunately, is now lost). The historical Claudius was known to suffer from several physical disabilities and, similar to the Claudius in the novel, was largely overlooked by the rest of his family until becoming emperor at the age of 49. Graves displayed an even more palpable interest in this area of study in later years, when he would translate and edit numerous classical works, including “The Greek Myths,” “The Hebrew Myths,” “The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyàm,” and “ The Golden Ass.”Īlthough Graves’ version of Claudius is technically fictitious, he relied greatly on historical facts and accounts when formulating the characters and events of the novel. Before he joined the army to fight in World War I, Graves had intended to study Classics at Oxford University, and he has a strong background in the field from his earlier studies. The subject matter of the novel is not particularly surprising considering Graves’ penchant for classical history and mythology.

Although the technical focus of the plot is Claudius as the protagonist, Claudius’ constant observations of those around him in his “autobiography” mean that the novel also contains detailed information about almost all of the Caesars of the Julio-Claudian line, as well as their immediate families.

In order the maintain this concept, Graves writes his narrative in the first-person, complete with stylized expressions and historical vocabulary, as if Claudius were actually writing it. The book is presented as a secret autobiography of Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus (or Claudius) who was the Emperor of the Roman Empire from 44 to 51 AD. OL24738953W Page_number_confidence 79.41 Pages 70 Partner Innodata Pdf_module_version 0.0.15 Ppi 360 Rcs_key 24143 Republisher_date 20210721124202 Republisher_operator Republisher_time 237 Scandate 20210717035744 Scanner Scanningcenter cebu Scribe3_search_catalog isbn Scribe3_search_id 9780141022284 Tts_version 4.Graves wrote the novel “ I, Claudius” in 1934. Claudius the god and his wife Messalina Boxid IA40176011 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 06:03:23 Associated-names Graves, Robert, 1895-1985.

I claudius graves