{"product_id":"9780552156943","title":"Caligula","description":"\u003cp\u003eA major new historical epic, in the tradition of Conn Iggulden, \u003cb\u003eCaligula\u003c\/b\u003e brilliantly combines impeccable research and historical detail with the power and pace of the best thriller writing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGaius 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRufus 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Transworld Publishers Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47047995293936,"sku":"9780552156943","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780552156943_p0.jpg?v=1763715815","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780552156943","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}