Back to: Caligula

Rufus, a young slave, is shown the tricks of the arena trade by the animal trader Cornelius Aurius Fronto, and forms an unlikely friendship with Cupido, the greatest gladiator of his age. When Cupido falls foul of the new Emperor, Rufus is also thrown into the surreal world of Caligula's palace, where he becomes keeper of the Emperor's elephant, Bersheba.

Caligula is just 24 years old and has been brought up in a gilded cage where suspicion, betrayal and conspiracy are as instinctive as breathing. It is natural that he should test the limits of his power, and just as natural that - being the man he is - he will find it has no limits.

Death, disappearances and torture are daily occurrences, but Rufus discovers that danger can take many different guises, and that in the complex network of alliances and conspiracies surrounding the Emperor nothing, and no-one, are what they seem.

Eventually, he is forced to choose, and he and Cupido are pitched into a race against time to save the live of the woman they both, in different ways, love. But that is not the only choice: win or lose, they must make the ultimate decision, do they save Caligula - or kill him.