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Referenced multiple times as both a novel and TV drama that depicts the story of Claudius, Messalina, and the Roman imperial family. The hosts mention it when discussing Messalina's scandals ('if you've seen or indeed read I, Claudius') and note it 'lies at the head of all these great dynastic epics' on television.

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Referenced when discussing the deaths of Augustus's grandsons Lucius and Gaius, with the host noting 'this is basically the kind of the plot twist in I, Claudius' regarding the theory that Livia poisoned them.

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Discussed as a novel that Robert Graves created using 'the raw material from the Twelve Caesars' - noted that Graves also translated the previous Penguin edition of Suetonius's Lives.

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Referenced when discussing Emperor Claudius and his background, mentioned alongside the TV adaptation as a way listeners might be familiar with Claudius's story

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Mentioned as the source where one of the hosts first learned about the incident where the Roman commander Publius Claudius Pulcher threw the sacred chickens into the sea before the disastrous naval battle at Drepana.

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Referenced when discussing Emperor Claudius's love of executions - Tom says 'if you just read I, Claudius, you'd never have that sense' that Claudius adored watching executions, contrasting the novel's portrayal with Suetonius's account

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Referenced in passing when discussing Claudius, who 'will go on to become the emperor, as in I Claudius.' This refers to the famous historical novel by Robert Graves.

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Implied reference when discussing Emperor Claudius - 'the stutterer, the hero of Robert Graves' (transcribed as 'Grayson') - distinguishing the early Emperor Claudius from Claudius Gothicus

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Mentioned as one of the two best-known modern popular versions of the Roman Empire (along with the film Gladiator), noting its narrative device of a character wanting to restore the republic

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Referenced when discussing Livia as 'the murderous matriarch' that 'viewers of I, Claudius will remember,' and later when discussing Christopher Biggins's portrayal of Nero.

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Referenced as a major influence on 21st century American TV dramas including Game of Thrones, noting the actor who plays Joffrey is 'clearly channeling John Hurt in I, Claudius'

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Praised as the most successful attempt to ventriloquise someone from before the invention of the novel

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Mentioned alongside I, Claudius as the companion novel: 'Robert Graves obviously turned the raw material from the Twelve Caesars into his novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God.'

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Referenced as 'his novel' by Robert Graves when discussing the falling out between Justinian and Belisarius - 'their falling out that Robert Graves writes about in his novel'

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Belisarius is described as 'the hero of a novel by Robert Graves' when introducing him as Justinian's most famous general.

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Mentioned as incredibly boring because it reads like a Byzantine account of a campaign

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Stephen Fry mentions reading Robert Graves as a child, noting that Graves 'wrote two versions of his collection, one for adults and a children's version as well' about Greek mythology.