This is one of my favourite historical novels. A junior commander, Leon, in Alexanders army is injured in battle near the borders of India. As he needs to go home Alexander gives him a small task force and two gifts. One is an Elephant, complete with handler, to go to his old teacher Aristotle. The other is a box of gold to go to Aristotle's major rival. The bulk of the text follows Leons attempts to get his small disparate group, complete with Elephant and gold, back across the ancient world to Athens. The book is highly readable and gives a believable feel for a world with which we are not familiar. I have never understood why it has not ranked with the great classics of historical literature.