Claudius in popular culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (10 BC – 54) was the fourth Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.
[edit] References to Claudius in popular culture
[edit] I,Claudius
Probably the most famous fictional representation of the Emperor Claudius were the books I, Claudius (1934) and Claudius the God (1935) by Robert Graves, which were both written in the first-person to give the reader the impression that they are Claudius' autobiography. Graves employed fictive artifice to suggest that they were recently discovered, genuine translations of Claudius' writings. To this end I, Claudius even includes a fictional account of his visit to an oracle, who predicted that the document would be rediscoved "nineteen hundred year or near" later. Claudius' extant letters, speeches, and sayings were incorporated into the text (mostly in the second book, Claudius the God) in order to add authenticity.
In 1937 director Josef von Sternberg made an unsuccessful attempt to film I, Claudius, with Charles Laughton as Claudius. Unfortunately, the lead actress Merle Oberon suffered a near-fatal accident and the movie was never finished. The surviving reels were finally shown in the documentary The Epic That Never Was in 1965, revealing some of Laughton's most accomplished acting.
Graves's two books were the basis for a thirteen-part British television adaptation produced by the BBC. The mini-series starred Derek Jacobi as Claudius, and was broadcast in 1976 on BBC2. It was a substantial critical success, and won several BAFTA awards. The series was later broadcast in the United States on Masterpiece Theatre in 1977.
[edit] Other media
Claudius has appeared on film on several other occasions, including in the 1979 motion picture Caligula, the role being performed by Giancarlo Badessi in which the character was depicted as an idiot, in complete contrast to Robert Graves' portrait of Claudius as a cunning and deeply intelligent man. On television, the actor Freddie Jones became famous for his role as Claudius in the 1968 British television series The Caesars whilst the 1985 made-for-television miniseries A.D. features actor Richard Kiley as Claudius. There is also a reference to Claudius' suppression of one of the coups against him in the movie Gladiator, though the incident is entirely fictional.
In literature, Claudius and his contemporaries appear in the historical novel The Roman by Mika Waltari and the Claudius story as imagined by Robert Graves, was reimagined by Canadian-born science fiction writer A. E. van Vogt in his two novels Empire of the Atom and The Wizard of Linn. A series of books by Simon Scarrow has been set during his reign, and though not specifically based on him, he makes several appearances. The series includes references to his actions during the invasion of Britain, his illnesses and his political stability.
