Caligula - Hardcover

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Douglas Jackson was born in Jedburgh in the Scottish borders and now lives in Bridge of Allan. He is an assistant editor at the Scotsman.

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Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the third Roman Emperor, is better known by another name: Caligula, a name synonymous with decadence, cruelty and madness.

Rufus, a young slave, grows up far from the corruption of the imperial court. His master is a trainer of animals for the gladiatorial arena, and Rufus discovers that he has a natural talent for controlling and schooling the animals. It is at the arenas that Rufus meets his great friend Cupido, one of Rome's greatest gladiators.

His growing reputation as an animal trainer and his friendship with Cupido attracts the cruel gaze of the Emperor, who wants a keeper for the imperial elephant. Rufus is bought from his master and taken to the imperial palace, where life is dictated by Caligula's ever-shifting moods. He is as generous as he is cold-blooded, a megalomaniac who declares himself a god and simultaneously remains in constant fear of the plots against his life. But his paranoia is not misplaced. Intrigue permeates his court, and Rufus and Cupido find themselves unwittingly at the centre of a conspiracy to assassinate Caligula. But can a slave decide the fate of an Emperor?