A Beginner's Guide to Robert Graves and the Classical World

You have always been fascinated with the ancient world. Too bad every history book you suffered through never really brought it to life for you. Well, cheer up because now you know of a man named Robert Graves. No longer will you have to depend on just your own imagination to fill in the blanks. After reading his works, you can use your now well-informed imagination in limitless directions regarding the ancients. Your knowledge of the ancients will grow exponentially and that will make those dry history books worth a second look. Those can now be used to fill in the gaps in your knowledge. Since you have become familiar with what they are covering, reading them is not the chore it used to be. If that does not establish Mr. Graves as a great author, I do not know what can.

Let us get a little more familiar with the man before we discuss his works. The following overview of his life comes either from my memory or from wikipedia.org. I used them to verify what I had written more than direct quotes. Nevertheless, I am grateful it is there and want to give them recognition. Robert R. Graves was born on July 24, 1895 in the U.K. Growing up in Wimbledon, he attended the usual schools as a young British lad and did well enough to win a scholarship to Saint John's College in Oxford.

When the Great War, as it was called then, broke out Robert joined the ranks of the British Army. He received a commission (VERY tough to get in the RA, especially then) and served well for king and country. He became friends with Siegfried Sassoon and was seriously wounded. This story is about his books on the classical world so I am not going to get in depth. This is just to encourage everyone to become more acquainted with him and Mr. Sassoon. Robert Grave always felt himself to be a poet first so I feel obligated to mention that. He was extremely prolific and should be read. We are concentrating on his historical works, mostly in the novel form.

Back from the war, he ran a shop that went under. He ended up taking a post at Cairo University, moving to Spain, splitting when the brutal civil war broke out and returned to England in 1936. A book about TE Lawrence was a commercial success, allowing him to write for a living after that. He died in December 1985. Once you have read the novels we discuss here, go to the bibliography at the bottom of his Wikipedia page. His life deserves so much more than the little capsule above.

Now, on to the books that opened up my lifelong fascination with the classical world. As a kid, our Catholic elementary school was consolidated and they sold off the library. They let us kids buy stuff on the cheap and the books sit in my children's library to this day. An Encyclopedia of the Ancient World printed in London, 1939 was mine for a dime a volume. Those books were a true friend that I spent time with everyday from 1974 until 1980. When I made it to Emperor Tiberius, at the bottom it said see 'I, Claudius' R. Graves. I was blessed with wonderful parents who NEVER censored what I read. I did not push the envelope with 'tropic of cancer' or anything but they did let me read M*A*S*H* at 12 years old. We searched and searched making me very aware at that tender age what 'out of print' means. I suppose in this day and age of online flea markets, out of print is not the showstopper it once was.

Then the BBC put on its incomparable production of "I, Claudius." which brought a new demand for the book. To this day when I here that trill and the snake glides across the mosaic I can almost hear my dad's voice. For my 13th birthday I got to see Star Wars and they got me the two-volume paperback set of 'I, Claudius", and "Claudius the God". In high school, several teachers were floored by my knowledge of classical Rome and Greece. For my 16th birthday, my mother gave me her copy of 'Cicero', Latin on one side, English on the other. Between those three books and Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings", I never suffered from a want of things to read. In the back of "Claudius the God" was a selected bibliography that a kind librarian copied for me. Dog-eared, covered with notes, and highlighted, it became my guide to the ancient world.

"Count Belisarius" was next and lived up to my hopes. Whenever we had pick up hoop games at 12th street Park, I always named the teams the greens and the blues after the chariot clubs. The book also gave me insight into Rome's fall. It was the cause of many an argument with history teacher. I am guessing we can thank that movie with Sophia Loren for that. Rome rather slid slowly into oblivion, a kind of fade to black, more than one big sacking by the Vandals. Growing up in a country that treated its 200th birthday the way it did, the scope and length of roman rule is doubly hard to fathom. Around this time, I also read a library copy of "The Greek Myths".

Edith Hamilton's is the definitive book of myths for good reason, but Robert Graves's treatment of them is as great as all his other works. The crispness of his prose, the images they summon, and the indelible stamp of his psyche is on each page. As luck would have it, the library also had Greek Gods and Heroes. Sometimes it is hard to separate it from 'Myths' in my memory. This led me to read his 'Golden Fleece' and then "The Siege and Fall of Troy". Those were my golden days of my escaping with Robert Graves' books. During my stint in the Army, I read and re-read the 'Claudius' set my folks had bought me whenever I could. Thanks to the good Count Belisarius, I chose the infantry and am glad I did to this day.

I was visiting the VA for a medical appointment and stopped by the reading room. To any citizen who donates books and magazines to the VA you have my deepest gratitude. The new clerk was very knowledgeable and we had a nice chat. When I mentioned ancient history, she dug up a copy of 'Homer's Daughter'. A book by Robert Graves that I had never read was dropped in my lap. It is every bit as interesting and revealing as all of his other works that I have had the pleasure of reading. As luck would have it, I had mentioned this on a bulletin board I frequent online. Another vet told me about 'the white goddess'. Way cool, now I have another Robert Graves book to look forward to.

The study of ancient Greece and Rome is a lifelong love affair and gives us depth of our appreciation of how much they have contributed to western man's culture. Reading Robert Graves' novels and non-fiction works made all the other history books and classes so much easier. The following is a list of his stuff I feel will make a strong foundation of understanding our Greco-Roman heritage. The reason I start with the BBC production of 'I, Claudius' is that we have to compete with the internet when trying to show kids how to learn through reading, writing, and thinking. Watching it makes one comfortable with the names and relationships of the Roman royal families. I hope that it will make reading the books a little more enjoyable to someone unfamiliar with the topics.

A Suggested List of Works as a Foundation:

TV
• "I, Claudius" Mini-series from the BBC, 1976http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074006/

Books, all by Robert Graves
• I, Claudius. London: Arthur Barker, 1934; New York: Smith & Haas, 1934.
• Claudius the God. London: Arthur Barker, 1934; New York: Smith & Haas, 1935.
• Count Belisarius. London: Cassell, 1938: Random House, New York, 1938.
• Greek Myths and Legends. London: Cassell, 1968.
• The Siege and Fall of Troy. London: Cassell, 1962; New York: Doubleday, 1963.
• The Golden Fleece. London: Cassell, 1944; as Hercules, My Shipmate, New York: Creative Age Press, 1945.
• Homer's Daughter. London: Cassell, 1955; New York: Doubleday, 1955.
• The White Goddess. London: Faber & Faber, 1948; New York: Creative Age Press, 1948; rev., London: Faber & Faber, 1952, 1961; New York: Alfred. A. Knopf, 1958.

Special Thanks to Wikipedia! It filled in the gaps in my memory and taught me a great deal about Mr. Graves. Go there for a bibliography that can keep you happily busy for a lifetime.