Firstly I have to say that Ancient Imperial Roman Family made the Tudors, other medieval royal families, even the royal families of the Mafia like a loving close nit, if slightly misunderstand. The Romans were crazy buggers to say the least.

I Claudius is a tribute of a novel. Claudius is the fool of the great Caesar family. A stammerer and lame, Claudius was never important enough to be considered a threat, and was mostly able to keep his head down and out of trouble. So is in a position to be the perfect recorder of the early history of Imperial Rome.

As I was reading this I kept forgetting that this was a fictional account of the Caesar dynasty. Graves has given Claudius a very slow deliberate writing style, flowing with detail. Claudius is extremely patient in giving the intertwining and complicated connections of the characters involved.

And these characters are extremely over the top, as they are believable. Livia, Claudius' grandmother who ruled Rome through her husband Augustus and her insolent son Tiberious. Poisoning anyone who stood in her way. If she were a man she would have been one of the greater statesmen in history. Then of course we cannot forget Caugila, completely insane, famous for making his favourite horse a member of the senate.

It's absolutely brilliant! So over the top yet so believable. The Caesar's did not think they were ordained by God. They were Gods themselves and could do anything they wanted.