Reviewed By: Alistair Forrest, author of historical fiction
Historically, we view Caligula as a bad egg. Up to his elbows in blood, making his horse Incitatus a consul and ultimately sent on his way to Elysium by Praetorian blades with the backing of the senators he had sought to destroy.
Maybe not so, says Simon Turney, at least not in the beginning. He's convinced that the third son of Germanicus had a bad press at the whim of Cassius Dio, Herodian and the "ever-dubious" Historia Augusta.
Turney, a prolific author of some 25 novels including the Marius' Mules series, bravely writes as Caligula's youngest sister Livilla, whom history records as a conspirator against her brother. But who really knows if she really was when the innocent died alongside the guilty in purge after purge? The author admits in his notes that his choices as commentator were rather limited and I admire his choice of Livilla - all he has to do is devise a likely reason for her innocence, which he does with aplomb.
As Turney's eyes and ears, she is Caligula's confidante and supports him loyally through the horrors of the ageing Tiberius' last years as Emperor and his murderous henchman Sejanus.
Ultimately, Caligula inherits the madness of Tiberius, of course, built brick by bloody brick on the cruelty of Rome, the loss of his (Caligula's) parents, his two elder brothers and his beloved sister Drusilla. Turney puts it thus: "Gaius Julius Caesar, who was called Caligula, had a heart in four pieces. One was his own. One belonged to Rome. One was for his family. The other was for Drusilla alone - his delicate songbird whom he had sheltered and cared for as long as I had known him."
Turney tells the story well. His persona as Livilla is hesitant at first but he hits his straps with Caligula's time at the Capri villa of Tiberius' voluntary exile in the company of joint-heir, Gemellus. With his sisters, Caligula witnesses the treatment of offending slaves and messengers who are thrown from a balcony to be dashed on rocks as they plunge into the sea. Livilla helps her brother to cling to a semblance of sanity and plot a route to power.
But everyone is plotting - the prefect Sejanus, his successor Macro, Gemellus, Silanus, even Lepidus, who we are constantly reminded is "our old friend". This intrigue makes for a great 'plot' in its own right, and it's the 'who's next' element that makes this such an exciting read. No need for expansive battle scenes; politics and intrigue suffice. Yet Turney can't resist the graphic "dripping with blood" descriptions of a gladius (Related Page: Roman Imperial Legion Structure and Equipment as it emerges between the shoulder blades after being plunged into yet another victim. That's not a criticism, lest I be named hypocrite! But one fears that only Incitatus will survive when so many togas are soaked in blood.
Speaking of the favoured horse as consul, Suetonius (who was not even born when Caligula died) was listening to tittle tattle and by his own admission Cassius Dio doubts the veracity of the tale. "It seems somewhat harsh," writes Turney in his notes, "that one of the most common accusations of Caligula's madness is based upon two writers who were merely spreading gossip."
The research behind this novel is impressive. The bridge of boats that stretched from Baiae to Puteoli, upon which Caligula led his legions as an alternative 'triumph', is well woven into the tale. The scene is turned into horror with the recreation of the Battle of Salamis in which rebellious officers fight a mock naval battle as punishment, and are dragged to their watery graves by the weight of their armour. Caligula, it seems, rarely got his own hands bloody but that's power for you.
Without offering a spoiler, the question arises as to the extent of Claudius' involvement in his nephew's demise, and how Caligula's sister Agrippina will survive to marry the next emperor and ensure her son Nero is destined for the throne.
And there, as they say, is another story: back to square one and more madness!
Alistair Forrest is a magazine editor and author of historical fiction, www.alistairforrest.com
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