So I just rewatched I, Claudius (also know in my house as I, Clvdivs or I, Clamdip), following along in my Suetonius, and now I am reading Robert Graves. Can anyone recommend good non-fiction on the period and the people? I get the feeling that Suetonius is like The Weekly World News: highly entertaining, but with quite an agenda. And Graves is based on Sueutonius. I want to know if Livia and Caligula and others have gotten a bum rap over the years!
Tacitus.
Also Plutarch and Livy. (who is, of course, a character in I Claudius.
This wiki article summarizes what various historians have to say about Livia:
I’d say Tacitus, also. If you’re looking for a straight-up history book, however, (rather than a contemporary’s account), well, there’s always Gibbon. 
I’d also like to briefly mention in passing that I, Claudius is based on much more than just Suetonius- in fact, he gets rather snippy about this in the foreword to Claudius the God, pointing out that he consulted a host of original sources. Take that for whatever it’s worth, I guess.
bibliophage speaks about Caligula.
Vnfortvnately, no matter how mvch thovght I gave it, no. I strvck ovt.
[QUOTE=Happy Clam]
I’d say Tacitus, also. If you’re looking for a straight-up history book, however, (rather than a contemporary’s account), well, there’s always Gibbon. 
[/QUOTE]
It’s been a while, but doesn’t Gibbon start at Marcus Aurelius?
Has anyone good written recently about them? Like, in the past 25 years or so?
As for Wikipedia, I put it somewhere around Suetonius for being interesting but highly dubious factually.
[QUOTE=Eve]
As for Wikipedia, I put it somewhere around Suetonius for being interesting but highly dubious factually.
[/QUOTE]
I agree that Wiki needs to be used with a critical eye, but in this case (as I said) it’s a decent summary of what others have said. With cites and everything.
Anyone so inclined can use the article as a guide to track down the source material cited.
[QUOTE=Eve]
Has anyone good written recently about them? Like, in the past 25 years or so?
[/QUOTE]
Try Michael Grant’s “The Twelve Caesars” - published in 1973, but it’s not like there’s been much new primary source material for a millenium or so.
Try Michael Grant’s The Twelve Caesars. It’s recent, and very readable, and done by a respectable historian. (My rule of thumb for Graves is to take him with a lot of salt. I’m convinced that he knew the facts, but he has his own ideas about history and mythology that keeps him from repeating them straight.):
Actually, try McCullogh’s (sp?) (terribly titled) Master of Rome ™ series. As I understand it, she went to all the source material and while she’s taken liberties with the narrative, I think all the facts are right. It’s a fun read anyway.
[QUOTE=Eve]
I, Clavdivs
[/QUOTE]
Strictly speaking, either “I, CLAVDIVS” or “I, Claudius”. In the Latin alphabet as used by the Ancient Romans, “u” is the lower case form of “V”.
Hmmm, Grant seems a little above my heard, from what the reviews say. I wonder if there are any good individual bios of Claudius, Livia, etc., rather than overall histories?
I enjoyed The First Century by William Klingaman - a history of (obviously) the first century. It’s not just the Roman imperial family; it also has large sections on early Christianity and China.
And Amazon has used copies for just ninety cents.
Writes Eve:
What? Grant over the head of our own biographer?
Not a chance of it. Grant’s a popular writer. I listened to this one (unabridged) while commuting in my car. It’s not a mass of scholarly footnotes - I think it’ll fit right in with your loves.
[QUOTE=Eve]
Hmmm, Grant seems a little above my heard, from what the reviews say. I wonder if there are any good individual bios of Claudius, Livia, etc., rather than overall histories?
[/QUOTE]
Seriously, Grant is a very good writer - it’s a scholarly work but doesn’t read like one. Allan Massie has written some volumes on individual Emperors, but they are novelisations (I think, I haven’t actually read any), but he’s a good and methodical writer usually, so it might be worth checking him out.
[QUOTE=Giles]
Strictly speaking, either “I, CLAVDIVS” or “I, Claudius”. In the Latin alphabet as used by the Ancient Romans, “u” is the lower case form of “V”.
[/QUOTE]
And, as we all are aware, VBB converts SHOUTING SOLID CAPS (which I’m sure Eue would have used, to Annoying Initial Caps. Vnreasonable it is to think that she would haue made such a greiuious error!
We just re-watched the series, too. Fun to catch a very young Patrick Stewart as Sejanus.
Anthony A. Barrett wrote Caligula: The Corruption of Power in 1989. I don’t remember whether I thought it was any good, but it is from Yale University Press. It’s got 3.5 starson Amazon.
[QUOTE=Polycarp]
And, as we all are aware, VBB converts SHOUTING SOLID CAPS (which I’m sure Eue would have used, to Annoying Initial Caps. Vnreasonable it is to think that she would haue made such a greiuious error!
[/QUOTE]
Damn software, not keeping up with proper 1st century Latin usage!
(Or should I say “softuuare”, since Latin didn’t have a double-u letter?)