Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants

In 1506, Michelangelo—a young but already renowned sculptor—is invited by the sultan of Constantinople to design a bridge over the Golden Horn. The sultan has offered, alongside an enormous payment, the promise of immortality, since Leonardo da Vinci’s design was rejected: “You will surpass him in glory if you accept, for you will succeed where he has failed, and you will give the world a monument without equal.” Michelangelo, after some hesitation, flees Rome and an irritated Pope Julius II—whose commission he leaves unfinished—and arrives in Constantinople for this truly epic project. Once there, he explores the beauty and wonder of the Ottoman Empire, sketching and describing his impressions along the way, as he struggles to create what could be his greatest architectural masterwork.
Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants—constructed from real historical fragments—is a thrilling page-turner about why stories are told, why bridges are built, and how seemingly unmatched fragments, seen from the opposite sides of civilization, can mirror one another.

In 1506, Michelangelo - un tanar, dar deja renumit sculptor - este invitat de sultanul din Constantinopol sa proiecteze un pod peste Cornul de Aur. Sultanul a oferit, alaturi de o plata enorma, promisiunea nemuririi, de cand proiectul lui Leonardo da Vinci a fost respins: „Il vei depasi in glorie daca accepti, pentru ca vei reusi acolo unde a esuat si vei da lumii un monument fara egal. ” Michelangelo, dupa o oarecare ezitare, fuge de Roma si de un papa iritat Iulius al II-lea - al carui mandat il lasa neterminat - si ajunge la Constantinopol pentru acest proiect cu adevarat epic.