Born into the family Julii, descendants of Julius Caesar and the family of emperors, Gaius Julius Caesar was the third son of Germanicus. his father dead, some said poisoned, the family returned to Rome and came under the aegis of Tiberius, the increasingly mad Emperor. As Caligula (as Gaius was known) watched his two elder brothers named heir and then die, as well as his mother, he became adept at seeing all and divulging nothing. Finally given the opportunity to rule Caligula became increasingly tormented, power-crazed and insane. Watched over by his younger sister, Luvilla, Caligula drove Rome to turn in on itself.

Everybody thinks they know about Caligula, the mad emperor who made his horse a senator and killed many through paranoia, in this book Turney takes a slightly different view to the norm. A fictionalised account narrated by Luvilla, here the difficult childhood that Caligula experiences is used to explain why the adult acted in the way that he did. The Julii family craved power and would do nothing to stop those who got in their way, justifying horrible actions. Most of the events in the book are well-documented and Turney has skillfully linked them into a coherent tale which emphasises his knowledge of Roman life. ( )

Simon Turney (usually billed as S.J.A. Turney) has built up quite a following with his e-books set in the Roman army, especially the Marius’ Mules series. They’ve been at the edge of my consciousness for a while, so I welcomed the chance to have a taster of Turney’s writing via this new novel. It’s the first in a series which will focus on the deliciously colourful emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. In tackling Caligula, however, Turney takes the same approach that Margaret George did with Nero, attempting to cut through the accretions of centuries of propaganda and legend, to reveal the man beneath. It’s a noble attempt, but not without its problems, as the Julio-Claudians are always at their most interesting when they’re barking mad...

For the review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2018/01/25/caligula-simon-turney/ ( )