Like Claudius, say, leader of rich Arab country (5)
I believe the answer is:
roman
'like claudius' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'leader of rich arab country' is the wordplay.
'leader of' indicates taking the first letters.
'arab country' becomes 'oman' (I've seen this in another clue).
The initial letter of 'rich' is 'r'.
'r'+'oman'='ROMAN'
'say' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for roman that I've seen before include "Like the English alphabet" , "Manor (anag.)" , "Like a type" , "From Italy's capital" , "Polanski" .)