Triple-headed Serpent
Marié Heese
Human & Rousseau
For Chris
List of Characters
Fictitious characters are indicated with an asterisk (see Author’s Note)
Aetios, physician
Alicia, soothsayer (real person, invented name)
Amalasuintha, regent of the Goths in Italy
Anastasia (Stasie), Theodora’s younger sister, former animal keeper
Anastasius, grandson to Theodora, born to Juliana and Zeno
Anna, daughter to Chrysomallo (real person, invented name)
Anthemius, mathematician and physicist, designs new Hagia Sofia
with Isidorus
Antonina, former actress and friend of Theodora, wife to Belisarius
Areobindus, steward to Theodora
Areobindus, military commander and patrician
Artabanes, military commander, changes sides to serve Justinian
Belisarius, general and Commander in Chief of the Byzantine army
Bouzes, Byzantine general
Cappadocian John, Praetorian Prefect of the East, tax-collecter
Chrysomallo, former acrobat and dancer, friend to Theodora
*Claudia, lady-in-waiting to Theodora
Comito, Theodora’s elder sister, former actress and courtesan,
wife to General Sittas
Eudaemon, Praetorian Prefect of Constantinople
Father Agapetus, Pope of Rome
Father Anthimus, Patriarch of Constantinople after Epiphanius,
deposed
Father Epiphanius, Patriarch of Constantinople
Father Gaianus, becomes Patriarch of Alexandria, deposed
Father Maximianus, Bishop of Ravenna
Father Menas, Patriarch of Constantinople who replaces Anthimus
Father Severus, deposed Patriarch of Antioch sheltering in Alexandria
Father Silverius, Pope of Rome after Agapetus, deposed
Father Vigilius, Pope of Rome who replaces Silverius
Father Theodosius, Patriarch of Alexandria after Gaianus
Gelimer, leader of the Goths in Africa
Germanus, cousin to Justinian, becomes Magister Militum in Africa
Guntarith, rebel leader in Africa
Ildibad, king of the Ostrogoths after Witigis
Ildiger, Byzantine general
Indaro, former acrobat and dancer, friend to Theodora
Isidorus, university professor of science, designs new Hagia Sofia
with Anthemius
Jacob Baradaeus, holy man, “old Ragbag”
John, impostor claiming to be Theodora’s son
(real person, invented name)
John Sanguinaris, or Bloody John, Byzantine general
Juliana, Theodora’s daughter by Hecebolus
(real person, invented name, father not identified)
Justin, nephew to Justinian
Justinian, Emperor of Byzantium
Khosrau, King of Persia
Macedonia, slave
Maximinus, civilian commander of the military
*Marcus Anicius Longinus, senator, protecter of Comito
Matasuintha, daughter of Amalasuintha
Mundus, general in Byzantine army
Nabedes, general in Persian Army
Narses, a eunuch, Commander of the Imperial Guard,
becomes Chief Chamberlain and military general
Praejecta, niece to Justinian, widow of Areobindus
Pharas, general in Byzantine army
Photius, eldest son to Antonina
Procopius, secretary and legal adviser to Belisarius, historian
Quintus Julius Libo, aged patrician (real person, invented name)
Sergius, a military commander
Sheikh Harith ibn Jabala, king of a Christian Arab state,
a Monophysite
Sittas, general in Byzantine army, husband to Comito
Solomon, eunuch, military leader in Carthage
Sophia, daughter born to Comito and General Sittas
Theodahad, king of the Ostrogoths who deposes Amalasuintha
Theodora, former actress and courtesan, Empress of Byzantium
Theodosius, mapmaker, adopted godson to Belisarius and
Antonina (believed by historians to have been her lover)
Tribonian, legal expert
Witigis, king of the Ostrogoths after Theodahad
Zeno, son of Probus, marries Juliana (real person, invented name)
Z’ura, stylite, holy man
Sundry other persons such a chief usher, silentiaries, guards
(excubitors, scholarians & domestics), servants, slaves, soldiers,
priests,
