Though the narrative is largely fictionalized, most of the events depicted are drawn from historical accounts of the same time period by the Roman historians Suetonius and Tacitus.

The sequel also includes a section written as a biography of Herod Agrippa, a contemporary of Claudius and the king of Judaea (Roman province).

Claudius' family kept him out of public life until his sudden coronation at the age of fifty because of his persistent stammer, limp, and other nervous tics, which caused others to perceive him as mentally deficient and not a threat to his ambitious relatives.

Even as his symptoms began to wane in his teenage years, he ran into trouble as a budding historian; his work on a history of the Roman civil wars was either too truthful or too critical of the reigning emperor Augustus, and his mother Antonia Minor and grandmother Livia quickly put a stop to it.

Claudius was portrayed this way by scholars for most of history, and Graves uses these peculiarities to develop a sympathetic character whose survival in a murderous dynasty depends upon his family's incorrect assumption that he is a harmless idiot.

Claudius believes this means that his secret memoirs will one day be found and that he, having written the truth, will speak clearly, while his contemporaries, who had to distort their histories to appease the ruling family, will seem like stammerers.

Since he wishes to record his life for posterity, Claudius explains that he chooses to write in Greek, which he believes will remain "the chief literary language of the world".

He is eventually given a great tutor, the reputable historian Athenodorus, who fosters a love of history and republican government in the young Claudius.

The Roman legions campaigning in Germany refuse to accept the unpopular Tiberius and begin to mutiny, instead declaring Germanicus emperor.

He sends his wife Agrippina and youngest son Caligula away from the military frontier and asks Claudius for an enormous sum of money to pay the soldiers.

In the midst of this, Claudius is informed that Postumus is alive and secretly forming a resistance group to take back his rightful place in Rome.

Sejanus meanwhile secretly plots with Livilla to usurp the monarchy for himself by poisoning Castor and systematically eliminating any ally of Agrippina and her sons.

Agrippina only survives due to the protection of Livia, who holds vital information regarding Augustus' true opinion of Tiberius.

Tiberius retreats from public life to the island of Capri and Sejanus is given full command of the city in his absence, becoming de facto ruler of Rome.

To his surprise, Claudius is recalled to Rome from his peaceful life in Capua writing history and living with his prostitute companion Calpurnia.

He sadly accepts for the sake of his wife and unborn child, and for the access the emperorship will give him to valuable historical documents, on a whim deciding that as emperor he will finally be able to demand that people read his books.

Herod is in Rome when Caligula is assassinated and quickly is able to convince Claudius to accept the emperorship in order to avoid civil war.

He applies himself to the law courts, demonstrates his intelligence in being able to locate one of Augustus' lost Eagles, and orders the building of a harbour in Ostia to help preserve the Roman food supply.

On being relieved of the "Olympian Mixture", Claudius is crushed and decides that the only way the Republic can be restored is by having a true mad monarch rather than the reign of a benevolent one.

Foreseeing that Nero will be a terrible ruler, Claudius plans on having his son Britannicus removed to live with the Northern Britons and later to return as Rome's saviour.

[8][9] In addition to instant popularity and enormous sales the books soon gained literary recognition; they were collectively awarded the 1934 James Tait Black Prize for fiction.

He collaborated with translator Hans Rothe and they jointly produced a shortened edition which left out the many digressions which were incorporated into the English original, with the aim of presenting Claudius' story in a clearer and more effective way.

In 1976, BBC Television adapted the book and its sequel into the popular TV serial I, Claudius, starring Derek Jacobi, Siân Phillips, Brian Blessed, and John Hurt.

In November and December 2010, as part of the Classic Serial strand, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a series of six hour-long episodes of a dramatisation of both novels, adapted by Robin Brooks and directed by Jonquil Panting.

[22] The three parts, or chapters, that form the trilogy are titled Livia, Caligula and Claudius the God, and have been conceived to be performed not only sequentially, but also separately.

He especially noted the resemblance Stannis Baratheon bore to Tiberius Caesar, particularly as portrayed by George Baker in the 1976 BBC television adaptation.

[26][27] David Chase, creator and showrunner of the acclaimed 1999 HBO series The Sopranos has spoken highly of the book, calling it one of his favorite works of fiction.

[29][30][31][32][33][34] These suspicious tend to find confirmation in the maiden name Chase selected for Livia—Pollio, one shared by Gaius Asinius Pollio, who makes a decisive appearance in I, Claudius.

This work resets the characters from Graves' book into a modern-day private high school that labors under a problematic power structure.