Claudius the God
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Published in 1934, Claudius the God is Robert Graves’s sequel to I, Claudius, continuing the imagined memoirs of the Roman emperor Tiberius Claudius Caesar. Following the assassination of his nephew Caligula, Claudius unexpectedly ascends to the imperial throne, exchanging the relative safety of scholarly life for the dangerous responsibilities of absolute power. Surrounded by ambitious senators, military commanders and foreign rulers, he attempts to restore stability to an empire shaped by corruption, intrigue and violence. His relationships with the Jewish king Herod Agrippa and his increasingly troublesome wife Messalina become central to a reign in which private affections and political responsibilities are rarely separable.
As Claudius discovers the burdens of governing Rome, Graves explores the uneasy distance between good intentions and political reality, exposing the vulnerability of even the most conscientious ruler to ambition, betrayal and manipulation. Drawing upon classical historians while giving the ancient world the immediacy of personal testimony, Graves combines historical scholarship with psychological drama, irony and dark humour. Together with I, Claudius, the novel forms one of the great literary recreations of Imperial Rome, transforming a much-maligned emperor into a complex study of power, responsibility and the cost of survival.
From the book
“I can’t understand you people. It amazes me that after having been ruled for years by a madman you should be ready to commit the government to an idiot.”
— Robert Graves, Claudius the God
On Claudius the God
“A wonderful achievement in marrying an historically accurate plot with a compelling narrative and psychologically fascinating characters.”
— Jason, We Need to Talk About Books