When Julius Caesar pits Egypt’s Queen Cleopatrae’s neb oot o joint (and sic a bonnie neb it is and aw), Haunlis, the Queen’s airchitect, is gien the joab o biggin a royal palace for his queen – braw eneuch, big eneuch and barry eneuch tae pit Caesar’s gas at a peep. Asterix and Obelix stick their nebs in tae the jookery-packery and soon get stuck intae biggin the queen’s new hoose, then get stuck inside and cannae get oot o a pyramid. The Gaulish heroes get tore intae the Romans while the Egyptian queen tears Caesar’s face aff (and sic a bonnie face it is, tae).

To prove to Julius Caesar that Ancient Egypt is still a great nation, Queen Cleopatra tells him her best architect, Hunlis, will build a magnificent palace in Alexandria in his honour – within three months! Hunlis realises this is going to be an impossible mission, unless he gets help from the druid Kensawthetrix and his fellow Gauls, Asterix and Obelix. With villanous saboteurs everywhere, our heroes head for Egypt, where the queen’s pretty nose leaves its mark on them – and they leave their mark on the pyramids, and the Sphinx!