The dark and messy goings on in Imperial Rome ....... back on my telly after 46 years

Now I am the first to admit that television dramas are not the most reliable way to learn history, for all the obvious reasons and recently said so.*

But done well they can offer up something, and with the passage of time become historical pieces, showing us how thought about a period in the past.

So last night I started on the box set of I Claudius which our Polly got me for Christmas.  The television series was first broadcast by the BBC in 1976.**

It tells the story of the first five Roman Emperors from Augustus through to Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero.

And wanders across a murky period of political murders, family warfare, heaps of casual sexual peccadillos, as well as incest.

At its heart is the study of one family's manipulation of people and politics to establish an Imperial dynasty.

It was based on two novels by Robert Graves, the first of which carried the same title as the TV series and the second which was called Claudius the God. 

I Claudius was published in 1934, and its sequel the following year and both were a success.  The story lines are fictional but are based on events and description which are drawn from historical accounts by the Roman historians, Suetonius and Tacitus.

I must have been just 16 when I came across Tacitus whose surviving accounts included a biography of Agricola his father in law who was the Roman general, as well accounts of campaigns in Britain and Germany and the politic of Rome.

Suetonius I came  to later, and his book The Twelve Caesars is as my Wikipedia tells me,  “is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire.

The work, written in AD 121 during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, was the most popular work of Suetonius, at that time Hadrian's personal secretary, and is the largest among his surviving writings. It was dedicated to a friend, the Praetorian prefect Gaius Septicius Clarus.

The Twelve Caesars was considered very significant in antiquity and remains a primary source on Roman history.

The book discusses the significant and critical period of the Principate from the end of the Republic to the reign of Domitian; comparisons are often made with Tacitus, whose surviving works document a similar period”.***

I will have read it around 1976 and the fun was to match this source with the two books and of course the telly series.

And now 46 years on I have to say that the television series has stood the test of time.  

True, some of the sets look a bit clunky but like many a Shakespeare play the magic is in the words, stories, and of course the acting.

There was a first-rate cast, some of whom were distinguished actors, while others were just setting out.and with a script written by an accomplished writer, it all came together.

And that is that.

Location Rome, and the Empire

Pictures; replica of a statue of the Emperor Augustus, Rome, and bits of ancient Rome much knocked about, 2009, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* La sposa, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2022/01/travelling-italian-history-with-la-sposa.html

**I Claudius - Complete BBC Series (5 Disc Box Set) [1976] [DVD]

***The Twelve Caesars, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Caesars

Ferragosto, the emperor Augustus and a picnic ………. the celebration we will miss

Today we shall miss the public holiday in Varese.

By  Lake Ghirla, 2009

It is Ferragosto, and the family will be gathering this year in Virginia’s garden.

But of course we are still here in that post legacy lockdown mode.

Every year I get told the purpose of the event, and every year it quickly gets lost in the general party atmosphere.

It’s origins go back to the emperor Augustus, who made August 1st a day of rest, and according to one source it became the custom for workers to wish their employers “buon ferragosto”.*

Later the Catholic Church moved it to August 15th to coincide with the feast day of the Assumption of Mary.

Augustus, Rome, 2008

And in the 1920s Mussolini exploited the day to promote fascism, organizing popular trips through fascist leisure and recreational organisations.

Rosa's Aubergines, Varese, 2017

But the family won’t be thinking of those dark days, instead there will be food, lots of laughter, and the promise of a warm sunny day.

Tina remembers picnics and big family gatherings.

Sadly we will have to celebrate from afar in the garden here in Chorlton.

But we have done the aubergines and have a picture of Augustus to remember where it all started.

Chino, Naples, 2017

Added to which there is some very nice wine, gently cooling in the fridge and the promise of some soft drinks, because it would never do to over indulge too early on what looks to be another hot day.








Location; Varese, and Chorlton

Pictures; the emperor Augustus, 2008, Rosa’s aubergines, 2017, and a picnic by the lake 2009. 


* Ferragosto,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferragosto