DRAMATIS PERSONAE 
Major figures in Mithradates’ story
(other proper names are listed in the index)
ADOBOGIONA: Noble Galatian woman, rescued from poison banquet to become one of Mithradates’ concubines.
AQUILLIUS: Rogue Roman official whose avarice led him to invade Mithradates’ kingdom, beginning the First Mithradatic War; his greed was punished with molten gold.
ARCATHIUS: Mithradates’ son by Laodice, brilliant cavalry commander, led vast barbarian army to liberate Greece in the First Mithradatic War.
ARCHELAUS: Tough Greek commander, Mithradates’ star general in the liberation of Greece. Negotiated peace with Sulla, later joined Lucullus.
ARIATHES VI: Weak boy-king of Cappadocia controlled by his wife, Mithradates’ sister, Laodice the Elder; he lost his life when he asserted himself.
ARIATHES VII: Mithradates’ nephew and puppet ruler of Cappadocia. His defiance of his uncle cost him his life.
ARIATHES VIII: Doomed young pawn, set up as new king of Cappadocia by Nicomedes III.
ARIATHES IX: Mithradates’ bastard son, established as king of Cappadocia.
ARISTONICUS: Heroic young rebel of Pergamon, led Anatolian revolt of the Sun Citizens against Roman rule when Mithradates was a boy.
ATHENION: Greek philosopher sent by Athenians to request Mithradates’ liberation of Greece from Rome; elected commander in Athens to resist Sulla’s siege.
ATTALUS III: Last king of Pergamon, eccentric recluse devoted to studying pharmacology. His will bequeathing his kingdom to Rome was contested by his son Aristonicus.
BACCHIDES: One of Mithradates’ most trusted eunuch-advisers, assigned to save the royal harem from a fate worse than death at Roman hands.
BERENICE: Young woman from Chios whom Mithradates took into his harem, instead of condemning her with the rest of her people to slavery.
BITUITUS: Mithradates’ faithful bodyguard, cavalry officer from Gaul; he remained with Mithradates until the very end.
CALLISTRATUS: Mithradates’ secretary in charge of the king’s papers, which may have included the formula for the Mithridatium; murdered by greedy Roman soldiers.
CASSIUS: Rogue Roman general who, along with Aquillius, Oppius, and Nicomedes IV, staged the disastrous, unauthorized invasion of Mithradates’ kingdom.
CHAEREMON: Wealthy citizen of Nysa who aided the Romans; Mithradates offered a reward for his head.
CLEOPATRA THE ELDER: Mithradates’ favorite daughter; at age sixteen she married Tigranes the Great and became queen of Armenia.
CYRUS THE GREAT: Founder of the vast Persian Empire; like Mithradates he fled as a youth to avoid assassination; served as a model for young Mithradates.
DAMOGORAS: Skilled Rhodian admiral allied with Rome, bested Mithradates in naval battle for Rhodes.
DARIUS I: Great Achaemenid conqueror of Persia; bestowed Mithradates’ ancestral lands.
DARIUS III: Noble Persian emperor vanquished by Alexander the Great; Alexander’s respect for Darius influenced Mithradates’ vision of a new Greco-Persian golden age.
DORYLAUS: Orphaned boy of aristocratic Pontic family, raised as brother to Mithradates in the royal palace; friend and loyal commander in the Mithradatic Wars.
DRYPETINA: Devoted daughter of Mithradates; afflicted with double teeth.
FIMBRIA: Brutal Roman officer, overthrew his superior, Flaccus, and led his unruly legionnaires to ravage Anatolia; their lust for plunder undermined Lucullus’s authority.
GORDIUS: Noble Cappadocian, Mithradates’ friend, henchman, and special envoy.
HERMAEUS: Zoroastrian Magus, accompanied Mithradates to Kabeira, during war with Lucullus.
HYPSICRATEA: Valiant Amazon horsewoman-warrior from Caucasia; served as Mithradates’ groom; she became his companion in battle and last true love.
KRATEUAS OF PERGAMON: Influential Greek herbalist, father of botanical illustration; Mithradates’ fellow experimenter with antidotes and poisons.
LAODICE, QUEEN OF PONTUS: Mithradates’ murderous mother, suspected of poisoning his father. Her attempts to do away with young Mithradates were later avenged.
LAODICE THE ELDER: Mithradates’ oldest sister, regent of Cappadocia; thwarted her brother by marrying his enemy, Nicomedes III of Bithynia.
LAODICE THE YOUNGER: Mithradates’ younger sister and his first wife; treacherous like her mother, Queen Laodice, she plotted against Mithradates.
LUCULLUS: Dogged, capable Roman general, Sulla’s protégé; lost control of his troops and failed to destroy Mithradates and Tigranes in the Third Mithradatic War.
MACHARES: Mithradates’ son by Laodice, viceroy of his father’s Bosporan Kingdom in the Crimea; went over to Lucullus and paid with his life.
MARIUS: Great Roman populist leader, enemy of Sulla in Rome’s Civil War; met Mithradates and vied for command of the First Mithradatic War.
METRODORUS THE ROME-HATER: Philosopher-statesman, invented memory and rhetorical techniques; Mithradates’ speech writer and envoy.
METROPHANES: Mithradates’ loyal Greek general throughout the Mithradatic Wars.
MITHRADATES CHRESTUS (The Good): Younger brother of Mithradates, lapdog of Queen Laodice. He did not live long.
MITHRADATES V EUERGETES: King of Pontus, Mithradates’ father, philhellene of Persian ancestry; assassinated by poison when Mithradates was a boy.
MONIME: Intelligent Macedonian beauty from Stratonicea; Mithradates found her irresistible and agreed to her demand for the title of queen.
MURENA: Sulla’s ambitious lieutenant; rashly began and lost the Second Mithradatic War.
NEOPTOLEMUS: Mithradates’ Greek commander in Scythian, Greek, and Anatolian campaigns.
NICOMEDES III: Crafty king of Bithynia, allied briefly with Mithradates against Rome, then opposed Mithradates over Cappadocia.
NICOMEDES IV: Weak king of Bithynia; compelled by Roman legate Aquillius to invade Mithradates’ kingdom without provocation, thus beginning the Mithradatic Wars.
NYSSA, ROXANA, and STATIRA: Mithradates’ wretched younger sisters, imprisoned in a tower for life, to prevent their marriage and rival offspring.
OPPIUS: Rogue Roman general who, with Aquillius, Cassius, and Nicomedes IV, staged the disastrous invasion of Mithradates’ kingdom.
PAPIAS: Mithradates’ personal physician, worked closely with the botanist Krateuas.
PELOPIDAS: Greek philosopher-orator-ambassador in Mithradates’ entourage.
PHARNACES: Mithradates’ son and heir by Laodice; led a revolt against his father in the Bosporan Kingdom; made a deal with Pompey; ultimately crushed by Julius Caesar.
POMPEY THE GREAT: Roman general seeking glory; defeated Spartacus and Sertorius; took over Lucullus’s failed command in the final Mithradatic War and brought it to a close.
SELEUCUS: Syrian pirate admiral of Cilicia, trusted friend of Mithradates.
SERTORIUS: Rebel Roman governor of Spain, commanded insurgent army of native Spaniards and Marius’s exiled Populars; allied with Mithradates against Rome.
SPARTACUS: Thracian gladiator, led massive slave insurrection in Italy; may have planned to ally with Mithradates, who was encouraged by his revolt and saddened by his death.
STRATONICE: Harpist in Mithradates’ court; became his lover and lady of Kabeira.
SULLA: Ruthless Roman patrician commander dispatched to avenge Mithradates’ massacre of Romans and to recover Greece; destroyed Athens and won the First Mithradatic War.
TIGRANES II THE GREAT: Proud, inflexible Armenian monarch, amassed a vast Middle Eastern empire; Mithradates’ close friend, son-in-law, and trusted ally.
XERXES: Great Persian king, fought Greeks at Thermopylae and Salamis; admired by Mithradates.
XIPHARES: Mithradates’ son with Stratonice; he was killed to punish his mother.