The Wolves of the North (48 page)

Gallus
: Gaius Vibius Trebonianus Gallus; a successful general on the Danube, he defended Novae from the Goths in
AD
250; emperor
AD
251–3.

Hadrian
: Publius Aelius Hadrianus, Roman emperor
AD
117–38.

Hannibal
: General of Carthage in the Second Punic War against Rome (247–183
BC
).

Heliogabalus
: Derogatory nickname for the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, ad218–22. Said to be remarkably perverse.

Herodotus
: The ‘Father of History’; fifth-century
BC
Greek historian of the Persian Wars.

Hippocrates
: Greek physician and medical writer of the fifth to fourth centuries
BC
.

Hippothous
: Rough Cilician, claims to be from Perinthus originally;
accensus
to Ballista.

Hisarna
: ‘The Iron One’, King of the Urugundi, son of King Aoric.

Hordeonius
: Centurion of Cohors I Cilicium Milliaria Equitata Sagittariorum.

Idmon
: Mythical seer from Argos, joined the Argonauts even though forewarned he would die on their journey.

Iphigenia
: Mythical daughter of Agamemnon, sacrificed in return for a favourable wind to Troy.

Isangrim
(1):
Dux
, war leader, of the Angles, father of Dernhelm/Ballista.

Isangrim
(2): Marcus Clodius Isangrim, first son of Ballista and Julia.

Jason
: Mythical leader of the Argonauts.

Julia
: Daughter of the senator Gaius Julius Volcatius Gallicanus; wife of Ballista.

Kadlin
: Woman of the Angles, to whom Ballista has been emotionally attached.

Khedosbios
:
Eirenarch
of Panticapaeum.

Laocoon
: Mistrusted the wooden horse left by the Greeks, but failed to persuade his fellow Trojans not to take it into Troy; killed with his two sons by two great sea serpents.

Loxus
: Greek physician of the third century
BC
, author of a work on physiognomy.

Lucian
: Satirical author of the later second century
AD
, writing in Greek.

Lycurgus
: Legendary founder of the constitution of Sparta.

Mamurra
: Ballista’s
Praefectus Fabrum
(‘Prefect of Construction’) and friend; entombed in a siege tunnel at Arete.

Mani
: Religious leader whose teachings, drawing on Christianity and Eastern religions, inspired Manichaeism (
AD
216–76/277).

Mar Ammo
: Manichaean missionary, known to have been active in the third century
AD
.

Marmaryan
: The mother of Mani. Claimed to be descended from the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of Parthia until the first quarter of the third century
AD
.

Mastabates
: Imperial eunuch originally from Abasgia; served with Ballista in Suania the year before this novel takes place.

Maximinus Thrax
: Gaius Iulius Verus Maximinus, Roman emperor
AD
235–8, known as
Thrax
(‘The Thracian’) because of his lowly origins.

Maximus
: Marcus Clodius Maximus, bodyguard to Ballista; originally a Hibernian warrior known as Muirtagh of the Long Road, sold to slave traders and trained as a boxer then gladiator before being purchased and then freed by Ballista.

Medea
: Colchian princess and sorceress who helps Jason win the Golden Fleece.

Mithridates
: Mithridates VI Eupator the Great, King of Pontus (134–63
BC
); having failed to commit suicide after his defeat by Rome, requested that his Gallic bodyguard kill him.

Morcar
: Son of Isangrim, war leader of the Angles, half-brother of Ballista.

Narcissus
: Slave purchased by Hippothous in Ephesus.

Naulobates
: King of the Heruli.

Ochus
: Herul of the Rosomoni clan.

Odenathus
: Septimius Odenathus, Lord of Palmyra/Tadmor, appointed by Gallienus as
corrector
over the eastern provinces of the Roman empire.

Odoacer
: Prophesied king of the Heruli.

Olympias
: Greek woman, captured by the Heruli at the sack of Trapezus.

Orestes
: In Greek myth, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra.

Ovid
: Roman poet, concentrating on mythological and amorous themes (43
BC
–17
AD
).

Pattikios
: Father of Mani.

Peregrim
: Son of Ursio; nephew of Aoric, the King of the Urugundi.

Pericles
: Son of Alcibiades; a retainer of the King of the Tarpeites, sharing his first and second names with two famous Athenian politicians of the fifth century
BC
.

Phanitheus
: Friend of Naulobates’ father.

Pharas
: Herul of the Rosomoni clan.

Philemuth
: Sickly Herul of the Rosomoni clan.

Plato
: Athenian philosopher,
c
. 429–347
BC
.

Plutarch
: Prolific Greek writer of philosophy and biography,
c
.
AD
45–125.

Polemon
: Marcus Antonius Polemon,
c
.
AD
88–144, famous sophist and physiognomist.

Polybius
(1): Slave purchased by Ballista in Priene.

Polybius
(2): Greek historian of the second century
BC
, writing about Rome.

Porsenna
: Marcus Aurelius Porsenna,
haruspex
.

Postumus
: Marcus Cassianus Latinius Postumus, once governor of Lower Germany, from
AD
260 Roman emperor of the breakaway ‘Gallic empire’; killer of Gallienus’s son Saloninus.

Potamis
: Slave-trader on the Dnieper river who bought and sold Wulfstan.

Pythagoras
: Sixth-century
BC
philosopher.

Pythonissa
: Daughter of King Polemo of Suania; a priestess of Hecate.

Rebecca
: Jewish slave woman bought by Ballista.

Regulus
: Roman herald.

Rhescuporis
: Rhescuporis V, King of the Bosporus (
c
.
AD
240–76), client of Rome.

Romulus
: Legendary founder of Rome.

Roxanne
: Concubine of Shapur, captured by Ballista at Soli.

Rudolphus
: Herul guide.

Rutilus
: Marcus Aurelius Rutilus, Roman army officer, Praetorian Prefect under both Quietus and Ballista; a Roman envoy to the King of Iberia the year before this novel takes place.

Sabinillus
: Roman senator; a follower of the philosopher Plotinus.

Safrax
: King of the Alani.

Sallust
: Roman historian (86–43
BC
).

Sarus
: Leader of a war band of Heruli.

Sasan
: Founder of the Sassanid house.

Saurmag
: Fourth son of King Polemo of Suania; after a failed coup, an exile among the Alani.

Seneca
: Roman philosopher (
c
.
AD
1–65).

Septimius Severus
: Lucius Septimius Severus, Roman emperor
AD
193–211.

Shapur
(or Sapor)
I
: Second Sassanid King of Kings, son of Ardashir I.

Simon
: Young Jewish boy owned by Ballista.

Solon
: Law-giver of the Athenians,
c
. 600
BC
.

Sophocles
: Athenian tragic playwright of the fifth century
BC
.

Starkad
: Chief of the Angles, grandfather of Ballista.

Strabo
: Greek geographer of the Augustan age.

Suartuas
: Father of Naulobates, King of the Heruli.

Sulla
: Dictator of Rome (
c
. 138–78
BC
).

Sunildus
: Great-grandfather of Naulobates, King of the Heruli.

Tacitus
(1): Cornelius Tacitus,
c
.
AD
56–
c
. 118, the greatest Latin historian.

Tacitus
(2): Marcus Claudius Tacitus, Roman senator of the third century
AD
(most likely) of Danubian origins; one of the
protectores
; may
have claimed kinship with or even descent from the famous historian, but it is unlikely to be true.

Tarchon
: Suani rescued by Ballista and Calgacus.

Trajan
: Marcus Ulpius Trajan, Roman emperor
AD
98–117.

Turpio
: Titus Flavius Turpio, army officer and friend of Ballista; executed by the Sassanids.

Uligagus
: War leader of the Heruli.

Ursio
: Brother of Aoric, King of the Urugundi.

Valerian
: Publius Licinius Valerianus, an elderly Italian senator elevated to Roman emperor in
AD
253; captured by Shapur I in
AD
260.

Videric
: Son of Fritigern, King of the Borani.

Virgil
: Roman national poet (70–19
BC
).

Visandus
: Grandfather of Naulobates, King of the Heruli.

Vultuulf
: Gothic
gudja
(priest), attached by Hisarna to Ballista’s embassy.

Wulfstan
: Young Angle slave purchased by Ballista in Ephesus.

Zalmoxis
: Sources disagree as to whether he was a god or a mortal. Said to have been worshipped as a god by the Getae for teaching them religious rites, but was thought of as a law-giver by the Thracians.

Zarmarus
: Indian ascetic who immolated himself at Athens before Augustus in 19
BC
. His motives are unknown to the sources.

Zeno
: Aulus Voconius Zeno, a Roman equestrian, former governor of Cilicia, and
a Studiis
to Gallienus, now a Roman emissary to the tribes near the mouth of the Danube.

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