I, Queequeg, rewatch I, Claudius

[HVC]

i haven't watched this since i was little. they used to run the it once in a while on tv (CBC for the canucks)

[Richard Hakluyt]

Yeah, we can think of him as our Super soaraway Suetonius, the Sun newspaper of classical historians 

A very entertaining read. Also, even when he is OTT or dubious, I bet these stories were being told and believed by the Roman citizenry.

[Malthus]

I particularly liked Sejanus - though it is hard not to think of the actor as Captain Picard. 

For a long time, I had the opposite problem! 

Picard: Sign it.
Data: What is it?
Picard: A confession.
Data: To what?
Picard: Your conspiracy with Geordi to subvert the computer systems. Sign it.

"Now, we'll start again."

[MadImmortalMan]

I particularly liked Sejanus - though it is hard not to think of the actor as Captain Picard. 

For a long time, I had the opposite problem! 

Picard: Sign it.
Data: What is it?
Picard: A confession.
Data: To what?
Picard: Your conspiracy with Geordi to subvert the computer systems. Sign it.

He has too much hair to really make the connection... 

[MadImmortalMan]

Brian Blessed is good at bellowing, though.

IS THERE ANYONE IN ROME NOT SLEEPING WITH MY DAUGHTER?

WHERE ARE MY EAGLES?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitleijqobqvle9an?from=Main.BRIANBLESSED

[jimmy olsen]

It's not *that* absurd - it is basically an elaboration on the anti-Livian gossip in Tacitus.

And mortality was common in the Ancient World,

I may be mistaken Spellus, but I think mortality is still a common affliction.

[jimmy olsen]

Generally if an Emperor was remembered as being a tyrant, ancient people generally just lumped shitloads of character assasination on him endlessly just to underline the fact that this guy was a really really bad guy.

So in the memory he would go from being merely petty, cruel, and inneffectual to a sexually depraved combination of Skeletor and Megatron.

So true.

[The Minsky Moment]

  No reason to believe Tacitus to the letter. 

Of couse not.  His Livia accusations are mere gossip at best.  The point is that a fictionalized dramatic teleplay is perfectly justified in borrowing from a legitimate ancient source and playing up the soap opery aspects of that account.

I'm starting to wonder how much of the sexual "history" of both the Romans and Byzantines is bullshit. 

I assume you don't take the Anecdota at fair value.
Remember much of ancient writings that we now call "histories" could be better termed using modern usage as propaganda or diatribe.  There wasn't any kind of professional sense of strict accuracy or neutrality.

[Barrister]

It's not *that* absurd - it is basically an elaboration on the anti-Livian gossip in Tacitus.

And mortality was common in the Ancient World,

I may be mistaken Spellus, but I think mortality is still a common affliction.

[Caliga]

@ JR

Alot of people in my college courses had trouble coming to grips with that fact... that is, until they read Herodotus.

[Alatriste]

@ JR

Alot of people in my college courses had trouble coming to grips with that fact... that is, until they read Herodotus.

Come on. How can you doubt that Indians get hoards of gold robbing it from the nests of super-swift giant desert ants and make good their escape using pre-set relays of camels?