Ajani, a native of the Tigray region south of the Red Sea, sold by his father to a Carthaginian general when he was very young, was trained to be a mahout, or elephant handler, in Carthage’s army. When Hannibal Barca assumed command of his father’s army that had crossed the sea at the Pillars of Hercules and invaded the Iberian Peninsula enroute to attack Rome, Ajani went along as a now-freed man and commander of a section of the war elephants that formed part of Carthage’s shock troops.
After a victory over one of Iberia’s major cities, Hannibal’s army encounters a Roman force that uses a concealed trench to thwart the charge of Ajani’s unit and he’s captured. Sold to a gladiator master as a slave, Ajani is trained to fight in the arena, where his greater size and military expertise makes him a champion. The Ethiopian, as he and all the darker races are known by the Romans, and before them the Greeks, comes to the attention of Claudius Drucilus, the Roman governor of the province, but more importantly, to Claudius’s wife, the Lady Lydia.
Ajani’s prowess in the arena earns the ire of Claudius who is determined to destroy him. His life is further threatened when Lydia falls in love with him, and finally, in order to save himself and his newfound friends, Ajani must run. A stranger in a strange land, he finds that he must go to even stranger lands if he is to survive.
Genre: Historical
After a victory over one of Iberia’s major cities, Hannibal’s army encounters a Roman force that uses a concealed trench to thwart the charge of Ajani’s unit and he’s captured. Sold to a gladiator master as a slave, Ajani is trained to fight in the arena, where his greater size and military expertise makes him a champion. The Ethiopian, as he and all the darker races are known by the Romans, and before them the Greeks, comes to the attention of Claudius Drucilus, the Roman governor of the province, but more importantly, to Claudius’s wife, the Lady Lydia.
Ajani’s prowess in the arena earns the ire of Claudius who is determined to destroy him. His life is further threatened when Lydia falls in love with him, and finally, in order to save himself and his newfound friends, Ajani must run. A stranger in a strange land, he finds that he must go to even stranger lands if he is to survive.
Genre: Historical
Used availability for Charles Ray's The Ethiopian