Primary characters in the book
The Carinnas
- Titus Licinius Carinna
- Senator of Rome
- Terentia
- his wife
- Publius
- their older son, dead three years before the story begins
- Marcus
- their younger son
- Nina
- Marcus's twin sister Carinnina, a governor's wife
- Phormio
- Marcus's old paedagogus, a slave
- Jason, Rufus, Dio
- some of the other household slaves
The Caesars
- Augustus Caesar*
- the deified first Princeps of Rome, dead 23 years earlier
- Tiberius Caesar*
- the second Princeps, dead eight months before the story begins
- Caligula Caesar*
- Tiberius's grandnephew, third and current Princeps
- Agrippinilla*
- the oldest of Caligula's three sisters
- Drusilla*
- his middle sister, married to Lepidus
- Livilla*
- his youngest sister, once betrothed to Publius Carinna
- Gemellus*
- their cousin, now Caligula's adopted son
- Claudius*
- uncle of Caligula, his sisters, and Gemellus
- Germanicus Caesar*
- Caligula's late father, a famous and popular general
Other Romans
- M. Aemilius Lepidus*
- patron of the Carinnas, head of the Senate's pro-Caligula faction
- Junius Silanus*
- the Senate Leader, head of the pro-Gemellus faction
- Furius Saxa
- commander of the Special Cohort of the Praetorian Guard
- Gaius Silius*
- Marcus's boyhood friend, now a city magistrate
- Torquata*
- Silius's mistress
- Pertinax
- Silius's mentor, a municipal official
- Macro*
- Prefect of the Praetorian Guard
- Cornelia Galla*
- wife of the governor of Pannonia and a cousin of the Carinnas
Germans
- Ingiomar
- rebellious war lord of the Marcomanni
- Aurima
- Ingiomar's daughter and a priestess of Freia, the Green Goddess
- Maelo
- Aurima's uncle, her protector in Rome
- Hermann*
- leader of the Great Rebellion against Rome 30 years earlier
- Flavus*
- Hermann's Romanized brother
- Heriberhto*
- Hermann's posthumous son, raised by Flavus
* Historical personages
