The Claudius Novels

I, Claudius (1934) is a novel by English writer Robert Graves, written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius. Accordingly, it includes history of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty & the Roman Empire, from Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC to Caligula's assassination in 41 AD. The autobiography of Claudius continues (from Claudius's accession after Caligula's death, to his own death in 54) in Claudius the God ('35). The sequel also includes a section written as a biography of Herod Agrippa, contemporary of Claudius & future King of the Jews. The two books were adapted by the BBC into an award-winning tv serial, I, Claudius. In 1998 the Modern Library ranked I, Claudius 14th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 2005, the novel was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the one hundred best English-language novels from 1923 to present.