In 1506, Michelangelo -- 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 had been 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, and becomes immersed in cloak-and-dagger palace
intrigues 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 story about why stories
are told, why bridges are built, and how seemingly unmatched pieces, seen
from the opposite sides of civilization, can mirror one another--