Claudius, the unwilling emperor who remained a convinced democrat at heart, was poisoned by his fourth wife, Agrippina, the mother of Nero - he could not escape his fate: This ruler has not fared well in the judgment of his contemporaries. Ranke Graves undertakes a kind of historical rehabilitation with his work. He honors Claudius as a level-headed, wise monarch who, having been placed on the throne on a whim, had to and could govern. This classic masterpiece of the amusingly ironic novel brings Roman history back to life in an exciting and entertaining way while never straying from the historical facts. A book that has become famous, translated into 16 languages, with a total German edition of over 1 million copies.