Synopsis
The book begins with Asterix and Obelix hunting wild boar. The boars, however, are crafty and lead them straight into a Roman patrol. The Gauls beat up the patrol, and in the midst of the battle, the boars escape with their lives.
Back in Rome, Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar hears of this, and orders M. Devius Surreptitius, the head of the Roman Secret Service, to send an agent to infiltrate the Gauls. This agent is a Gaulish-Roman druid known as Dubbelosix, who travels in a folding chariot full of secret devices. Dubbelosix and Surreptitius communicate with a carrier fly.
In the Gaulish village, Getafix is extremely frustrated and depressed, because he has run out of rock oil. Without rock oil, he can’t make any more magic potion and the village will soon fall against the Romans.
The next day, Ekonomikrisis the Phoenician merchant arrives in Gaul. This cheers Getafix up, but he soon finds out that Ekonomikrisis forgot to bring any rock oil. This causes him to have a stroke, and chief Vitalstatistix tells Asterix and Obelix to fetch another druid to treat him. This druid turns out to be Dubbelosix.
Mesopotamia is where Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix want to go, so they and Dubbelosix come on board Ekonomikrisis’s ship, which sets sail towards Mesopotamia. Along the way, they fight pirates and Roman warships, obviously winning each battle. But there’s one thing that they don’t know – Dubbelosix is sending covert messages to the Romans, so they will meet in Mesopotamia, preventing the Gauls from completing their quest.
The Phoenician ship is finally able to land at Judea, where Asterix, Obelix, Dogmatix and Dubbelosix disembark and head for the city of Jerusalem. There’s a lot of ruins in Mesopotamia, but Jerusalem is a very big and busy city, with Roman patrols everywhere. Ekonomikrisis’s friend, Samson Alius, offers them refuge from the Romans and passage towards Babylon, where they’ll find rock oil. Dubbleosix is exposed as a Roman agent and left behind.
The way to Babylon is across a huge desert, but in the middle of the desert, Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix find a source of rock oil in the ground, so they fill a waterskin with it and head back home. Since Caesar had all of Palestine sealed off to prevent their escape, the two Gauls simply capture Caesar’s personal galley – along with Surreptitius and Dubbleosix, who have been awaiting the developments on board.
Unfortunately, just before landing back in Gaul, the rock oil is lost overboard (Obelix squashes Dubbelosix who was holding the waterskin and trying to spill the oil, causing the oil to squirt over the side). Asterix has lost all hope, but when they come back to the village, they find the Gauls fighting Romans as merrily as ever. It turns out that Getafix has been able to substitute beetroot juice for rock oil, and has managed to produce more magic potion. Asterix has a stroke when he realises all the journey has been for naught.
All ends well for the Gauls, and they send Dubbelosix and Surreptitius back to Caesar in a gift-wrapped box. Caesar sends them to the Circus Maximus as punishment for failure – with a new show added for a twist…