The Story of...
I, CLAUDIUS LIVE
Voiceover courtesy of Bianca Leigh.
Episode
A:
Rome,
24 BC: Caesar Augustus, grandnephew to Julius Caesar, rules as the first emperor of Rome. It is seven years after Augustus emerged victorious
from the battle of Actium,
defeating the forces of Marc Antony and Cleopatra. Following that victory, the Senate acclaimed Augustus emperor of Rome.
For three
years the Roman Empire
has been at peace, after nearly three decades of disastrous civil wars. The first, between Julius Caesar's army and Pompey,
brought Caesar home to Rome in glory and honor only to be assassinated by Brutus and the Roman Senate. With the dictatorship
left vacant by the murder, Augustus and Marc Antony, former allies, battled each other for leadership.
Now, Augustus
sits as emperor and Rome prospers.
However,
all is not well in the Empire…
Tensions
are mounting between Augustus’ longtime friend and supporter, Marcus Agrippa, and his favored son-in-law and nephew,
Marcellus. In the Senate, some are uncomfortable with Augustus’ growing
power and authority, fearing a return to the kings of Rome’s past. Meanwhile, Augustus’ second wife, Livia, is determined to advance the career
of her son, Tiberius…
Episode B:
24 BC:
Though Rome continues to prosper under the leadership of Augustus Caesar, storm clouds are beginning to form on the horizon.
As the empire and the emperor continue to grow in power, members of the first family are jockeying for the role of who will
succeed Augustus as Caesar.
The most formidable
of these is Livia, second wife of Augustus, who has her mind set on establishing her son from her first marriage, Tiberius,
as the next in line. But ascension is
not guaranteed. From the beginning. Livia has watched carefully to see no one stands higher than Tiberius. Several prominent family members have met mysterious, sudden deaths, and Augustus’ only child, Julia,
has been conveniently banished from Rome
for excessive promiscuity.
Little
noticed through all of this is the young Claudius, Livia's grandson, who, since he is “differently abled” remains below the radar of those competing to be supreme ruler. Still, there
is a hint of what’s to come when a sign from above, a wolf cub dropped by an eagle, indicates that Claudius will eventually
lead Rome.
Also of growing importance is the young Germanicus,
brother of Claudius. Meanwhile his sister, Livilla, has grown to be true to her name: “Little Livia.”
Now, in the year
9 AD, tensions are coming to a head. Livia continues to hold Tiberius close in
Rome, but Augustus has adoped Postumus, Julia’s son and his only living
heir. The Roman Senate, once a powerful institution has been weakening under
the weight of the emperor. Caesar is getting older and it is still unclear who will follow in his footsteps. Something has
to give...
Episode C:
Though
Augustus' reign as emperor of Rome was marked with peace and prosperity,
it would eventually come to a crashing end.
When
news of an uprising in Germany disturbs the peace, Tiberius and his nephew Germanicus
are sent to put out the flames of insurgency. Even as the war rages in Germany, the internal struggle for power burns
just as hot within Caesar's own family. Though the Roman army is successful at putting down the uprising, Augustus and his
chosen heir Postumus aren't as lucky.
Standing
between Livia's son Tiberius and supreme imperial power is Augustus’ grandson Postumus, who joins a long line of victims
to Livia's ambition. Livia arranges to have Postumus framed for rape, and falling for the deception, Augustus banishes Postumus
to a tiny island.
Augustus
eventually discovers Livia's deceit with the help of his grandson Claudius, but it is too late to save Postumus. Once Livia
reads Augustus’ revised will – which names Postumus as his sucessor – she decides Augustus must be eliminated. After
falling ill, Augustus refuses to eat any food that has been touched by human hands other than his own, from fear of poison,
but not to be outsmarted, Livia doctors his figs even as they hang on the tree. After his death, Livia has Postumus murdered
by Sejanus, a rising star of the Praetorian Guard.
In the will,
which Livia had secretly rewritten before Augustus' death, Tiberius is named the new emperor, for now...
Episode D:
Though Tiberius is named emperor after Augustus' death, uneasy sit his
laurels. Concerned about the same struggles that brought him to power, Tiberius makes sure that there are none to oppose his
rule.
Fearing most his popular nephew, Germanicus, Tiberius
recruits Piso, the governor of Syria and his wife Plancina, to arrange Germanicus' death. With the help of the
notorious poisoner Martina and Germanicus' son, the still young Caligula, Germanicus is disposed of.
Though dead, Germanicus is not without powerful friends, among them his
wife Agrippina and Tiberius' own son Castor. This coalition organizes a trial of Piso and Plancina in the Senate intended
to highlight not just the pair's treachery, but also that of Tiberius himself.
Fearing the evidence they might produce against Tiberius, Livia arranges
for Plancina to kill her husband in exchange for acquittal. Though she quiets the uproar over Germanicus' murder, Livia is
beginning to become burdensome to Tiberius and he orders an astrological reading to determine when she will die.
It is predicted that Livia is to die within the year, but before she goes
she reveals her sordid history of assasinations to Claudius, a budding historian and asks him and Caligula to make sure she
becomes a God. Both promise, but as she dies, Caligula renegs, leaving it up to Claudius to ensure that his grandmother is
deified someday.
Meanwhile, with the death of Livia, the state has now fallen completely into the hands of Tiberius and
his close advisor Sejanus, who is starting to have visions of grandeur. Just the kind sure to cause more trouble for Rome.
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