Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the third Roman Emperor, is  better known by another name: Caligula, a name synonymous with  decadence, cruelty and madness. 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,  assassination attempts and sexual scandal. Rufus 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 discovers that he  has a natural ability with animals, a talent for controlling and  schooling them. It is at the arenas that Rufus meets his great friend  Cupido, one of Rome's greatest gladiators. It 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 imperial  palace. Life here is dictated by Caligula's ever shifting moods.  Caligula is as generous as he is cruel, he is a megalomaniac who  declares himself a living god and simultaneously lives in constant fear  of the plots against his life.