A major new historical epic, in the tradition of Conn Iggulden,
Caligula brilliantly combines impeccable research and historical
detail with the power and pace of the best thriller writing.
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the third Roman Emperor, is
better known by another name: Caligula, a name synonymous with decadence
and cruelty. His reign was marked by excess, huge building projects, the
largest gladiatorial battles Rome was ever to see -- men and animals
killed in their hundreds -- conspiracies and sexual scandal.
Rufus as a young slave grows up far from the corruption of the imperial
court. His master is a trainer of animals for the gladiatorial arena.
Rufus has a natural ability with animals, a talent for controlling and
schooling them. It is at the arenas that Rufus meets Cupido, one of
Rome's greatest gladiators.
It is his growing reputation as an animal trainer and his friendship
with Cupido that attracts the cruel gaze of the Emperor. Caligula wants
a keeper for the imperial elephant and Rufus is bought from his master
and taken to the palace, where life is dictated by Caligula's ever
shifting moods. Caligula is a megalomaniac who declares himself a living
god and simultaneously lives in constant fear of plots against his life.
But his paranoia is not misplaced; intrigue permeates his court, and
Rufus and Cupido find themselves unwittingly placed at the centre of a
conspiracy to assassinate the Emperor.
