Dramatis Personae, Volume 1

A Pyrrhic Victory: Volume I, The Shaping of Destiny.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.

Principal characters and their positions at the commencement of the novel. They are presented in order of their importance with regard to setting the historical and political stage.

PYRRHUS – The young disinherited king of Epirus, who fights with Antigonus and Demetrius at Ipsus, where this tale begins.

ANTIGONUS – One of Alexander’s generals. King of Phrygia and related territories. Rules Anatolia, the eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean and part of Greece (with his son Demetrius). Aims to recreate a single empire.

DEMETRIUS – Son of Antigonus. Married to Deidameia, Pyrrhus’s sister. Declared as heir and co-king by Antigonus.

CASSANDER – Son of Antipater, Alexander’s regent in Macedonia. Hated for executing Olympias, Alexander’s mother, together with Roxanne and Alexander IV (Alexander the Great’s wife and son). King of Macedonia.

LYSIMACHUS – One of Alexander’s generals. King of Thrace.

PTOLEMY – One of Alexander’s generals. Pharaoh of Egypt.

BERENICE – Wife of Ptolemy. Empress of Egypt.

ANTIGONE – Daughter of Berenice. Stepdaughter of Ptolemy.

SELEUCUS – One of Alexander’s generals. King of Asia (Syria, Mesopotamia, and the eastern territories of Alexander’s empire).

MENESTHEUS – Scholar and mercenary captain.

PANTAUCHUS – General of Demetrius.

CINEAS – Athenian politician.

NEOPTOLEMUS – Pyrrhus’s cousin, who has seized the throne of Epirus from Pyrrhus.

DEIDAMEIA – Pyrrhus’s sister, married to Demetrius.

All of these characters are historical figures, with the exception of Menestheus.