Alexandria, winter 48 BCE. Caesar arrives in Egypt after Pompey’s murder and becomes entangled in the struggle between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII. With only a small force, he occupies the royal quarter and holds the young king while General Achillas closes on the city with a far larger army.
Fronto and his companions must defend unfamiliar streets, docks and palaces while waiting for reinforcements that may never arrive. Cleopatra’s alliance with Caesar, Arsinoe’s intervention and the competing ambitions of the Ptolemaic court turn the siege into both dynastic war and a test of Roman survival. The sands of Egypt offer no respite from the Republic’s conflict.