Ave Caesare!

One young man came in a town. He opened his own business, he sells shawls. During all his spare time he writes letters. To one lady. She doesn't answer. He bought a pavilion in a park and painted walls of it. What did he picture there?

Salvete all! I can't believe I didn't join this comm sooner. I've been a huge fan of the books, mini-series, and Roman history in general for years- my Classics degree may attest to that! God knows I ramble on about it in my LJ often enough. So, now that I'm here, I thought it would be a good idea to share the fic I wrote for this year's femgenficathon. After all, there is not nearly enough I, Claudius fanfiction in the world.

Title: Mater Familias
Characters: Antonia, Claudius, Aelia, and Livilla (who is an off-screen presence, for obvious reasons)
Rating: PG-13, for canon character death
Word Count: 2,820
Disclaimer: Not mine. But then, these were all real people, so technically they didn't belong to Robert Graves either. However, it's his characterization, so he gets the credit, along with the BBC and all the lovely people involved in creating my favorite mini-series of all time ever.
Summary: Antonia executes her daughter, and tries to live with her disappointing son.
Author's Notes: The first few lines of dialogue have been stolen directly from Episode 8: Reign of Terror, from right after the fall of Sejanus. Many thanks to dbassassin for beta-reading.

"How long are you going to leave her in there?"

Recently found the series on DVD and am enjoying it again. Glad all those years in Latin class were good for something...I mean, how else would I have known what the little wooden scraper was that they used in the "bath?" (a squidgel!)(if that's how you spell it.)

At the end of every episode I find myself shaking my head and saying, "Wow..."

Viewing it this time around, I'm impressed with how much they did with so little set design...a lot of open space goes a long way for the Roman Empire.

I hope this is allowed - if not, Mod, please delete!

I have just opened two new stamping communities: one for I, Claudius (iclaudius_stamp) and one for Roman Emperors (imperator_stamp). I figured you all would appreciate those more than others. ;)

If you're not familiar with "stamping", it's basically where you fill out a form with info about yourself and your answers to relevant questions. Once you post it to the stamping community itself, community members review it and "vote" which character they think you most resemble based on your information. After you're "stamped", you get a nifty little graphic to post into your journal/profile/wherever saying who you were stamped as. It's pretty fun and is a way to interact with fans of the same subject. So, if you like, please feel free to join us!

Thanks so much! :)

I forgot to mention this in my last post, but we invented ourselves an "I, Claudius" drinking game as well.

Rules:
drink for death of named characters
drink again if character dies on screen
drink again if they were *not* killed by Livia or Caligula
drink again if it is an emperor's death
drink again if the person was killed by their spouse
drink every time someone is banished
drink each time Claudius gets married (on or off screen)
drink every time you recognise an actor from something else cool (only once per actor)
drink every time Augustus says "quick as boiled asparagus"
drink every time someone says "for the Senate and the people of Rome!"
drink once for each (female) nipple
drink every time someone realises what Livia is up to
drink every time someone mentions a prophecy

Add your own ideas to the list. And tell me about them!

I guess this is what happens when my friends and I bake Christmas cookies while watching "I, Claudius".



Top row: Augustus, Livia (with poisoned fig), grumpy Tiberius
Bottom row: Caligula (exposing himself), Claudius (with slightly damaged foot), and Nero.

Nero's awesome fiddle was made by elanya out of a tiny snowman-shaped cookie.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Oh. My. God. I cannot believe that there's an I, Claudius community! I first watched it when I was ten - wait, no, my mother made me watch it when I was like, seven, but I didn't like it until I rewatched it when I was ten. There.

Anyway, I love most of the characters and all the drama and everything else that comes along with it. Claudius is probably my favorite character, but I like Caligula and Augustus and Julia, and Livia. How I admire Livia.


But, I digress. What prompted this entire post was something that my mother said in passing today:

We were watching some program thingy on Caligula, and it was talking about how he had had affairs with his sisters and his brother-in-law, and I said that I was surprised poor Uncle Claudius didn't *get it*, and my mother was like, in real life he probably did. *faints from shock*

Now, I am a rabid fanfiction reader/writer, of the slash m/m variety. And, as creepy as the thought of incestuous Claudius/Caligula is, I was just wondering: Does I, Caludius fanfiction exist??


Anna

I've seen I, Claudius enough times to repeat the dialogue. Livia's speech to the gladiators is one of my favorite moments. Sian Phillips had some of the best dialogue throughout. I've also read the books. One of my favorite details -- The mare that Claudius rode in Britain is the sister of the horse Caligula made a senator.

I found a treat. The British royals have amassed an impressive art collection, which can be viewed on-line. Among the pieces is an ancient Roman cameo of Claudius, circa 43-45 AD:

http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/pag…

Here's a direct link:

http://www.royal.gov.uk/files/imag…

I was wondering what folks think of Charles Laughton's Claudius compared to the miniseries. Although unfinished, the existing 1937 footage was included as part of the I, Claudius video release. Personally, I'm sorry it wasn't completed. From what little can be seen, I think Laughton would have made a wonderful Claudius (although I'll always be biased toward Sir Derek Jacobi's portrayal).

I'd also like to mention jacobian_bard, a community for fans of Sir Derek. (If mentioning this isn't allowed, please feel free to remove this post.)

Like most of my icons, want, take, have. I've been on a spree lately, in anticipation of getting extra icon space.

( Collapse )