Back to: Claudius

In the year 43 AD the Roman Emperor Claudius rode in triumph on his ceremonial elephant at Camulodunum as eleven vanquished British kings looked on. But how was the drooling cripple portrayed in the histories transformed into the victorious general hailed imperator twenty-two times by the legions and granted a triumph by the Senate?

This is the story of the Roman invasion of Britain seen through the eyes of Rufus, keeper of the Emperor's elephant, reluctant participant in Caligula's assassination, slave and sometime spy. In the course of it he once again becomes trapped in the web or intrigue spun by Narcissus, the Emperor's spymaster, and comes face to face with Caratacus, the only man who can unite the tribes and save Britain.

Threatened with the wrath of the druids, the hatred of Togodumnus, Caratacus's brother, and pitched into battles he wants no part of, Rufus struggles against the odds to survive as the army makes its way toward its ultimate prize - the Trinovante capital at Camulodunum, stronghold of the British war god.