The Amber Road

by Harry Sidebottom

  Fabius Cunctator: Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator, appointed Dictator (for the second time) to defend Rome from Hannibal in 217BC. Avoiding pitched battle, and thus defeat, he earned the name Cunctator, the Delayer.

  Fabius Labeo: Ex-consul, governor of Syria Coele for Gallienus.

  Faraxen: Charismatic leader of a native revolt against Rome in North Africa; uncertain if he is dead.

  Faustinus: Roman senator with wide estates in Narbonensis and Lugdunum.

  Firmus: Castricius Firmus, Roman senator; identified as a follower of the philosopher Plotinus by Porphyry.

  Flaccinus: Valerius Flaccinus, a young relative of Gallienus’s father, Valerian. Fell into the hands of the Quadi and was rescued by Probus.

  Freki: Alamann, commander of the German bodyguard of Gallienus.

  Froda: Son of Isangrim (1) and a Langobardi woman, older half-brother of Ballista.

  Gallienus: Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus, declared joint Roman emperor by his father, the emperor Valerian, in AD253, sole emperor after the capture of his father by the Persians in AD260.

  Gallus: Gaius Vibius Trebonianus Gallus, a successful general on the Danube, he defended Novae from the Goths in AD250; emperor AD251–3.

  Gifeca: Counsellor of Heoden, king of the Harii.

  Giton: Slave boy belonging to Marcus Aurelius Julianus, named after a character in an ancient novel who was also used sexually by his master.

  Glaum: Son of Wolfmaer, an Angle confidant of Morcar.

  Godwine: Angle eorl, father of Ceola.

  Grim: Heathobard warrior.

  Gunteric: Ruler of the Tervingi Goths.

  Guthlaf: Duguth of the Angles.

  Hama: Legendary hero in the poems of the scops, a warrior and dragon-slayer.

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

  Hathkin: Angle, son of Heoroweard and Wealtheow, cousin of Starkad.

  Hector: Legendary hero in Homer’s Iliad, the greatest warrior of Troy and sworn enemy of Achilles.

  Helen: Greek princess abducted by Hector’s brother and brought to Troy; the war waged for her return is the subject of the Iliad.

  Heliodorus: Sailor serving on the Fides patrol boat, originally from Egypt.

  Heliogabalus: Derogatory nickname for the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, AD218–22. Said to be remarkably perverse.

  Helm: Ancestor of Heoden, founder of the royal line of the Harii.

  Heoden: King of the Harii, maternal uncle and sometime foster-parent of Ballista.

  Heoroweard Paunch-Shaker: Brother of Kadlin, husband of Wealtheow; a childhood friend of Ballista.

  Heraclian: Marcus Aurelius Heraclianus, a protector of Gallienus.

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

  Hieroson: Olbian guide attached to Ballista’s embassy.

  Hippolytus: Legendary Greek figure. As punishment for spurning Aphrodite’s advances, the goddess made his stepmother fall madly in love with him. Similarly rejected, her jealousy ultimately resulted in Hippolytus’s death.

  Hippothous: Claimed to be from Perinthus originally; joined Ballista as accensus (secretary) in Rough Cilicia, murdered Calgacus.

  Hjar: Cyning of the Angles, great-grandfather of Ballista.

  Holen: Wrosn of the islands of Latris, first husband of Kadlin.

  Homer: Epic poet and father of Greek literature, author of the Iliad and Odyssey; probably lived in the seventh or eighth century BC.

  Honoratianus: Governor of Gallia Lugdunensis; Consul Ordinarius with Postumus AD260.

  Hrothgar: Brother of Holen, brother-in-law of Kadlin and ruler of the Wrosns.

  Hygelac: Ruler of the Geats.

  Ingenuus: One-time governor of Pannonia Superior and one of Gallienus’s protectores, rebelled and was killed in AD260.

  Ion: Slave boy belonging to Amantius.

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

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

  Ivar Horse-Prick: Angle warrior and older contemporaryof Ballista.

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

  Julius Marcellinus: Roman officer in the service of Gallienus, assistant to Bonitus.

  Kadlin: Wife of Oslac and mother of Starkad, an Angle eorl.

  Laelianus: Ulpius Cornelius Laelianus, legionary commander in then governor of Germania Superior, a supporter of Postumus.

  Leoba: Sibling of Kadlin and Heoroweard, an Angle shield-maiden.

  Lepidus: Governor of Gallia Belgica for Postumus.

  Liberalinius Probinus: Officer serving under Lollianus.

  Licinius: Licinius Valerianus, son of Valerian and half-brother of Gallienus, Consul Ordinarius in AD265.

  Lollianus: Commander of Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix, advised Postumus to rebel, promoted to Prefect of Cavalry.

  Lucillus: Egnatius Lucillus, designated Consul Ordinarius for AD265, possibly a relation of Gallienus.

  Macarius: Marcus Aurelius Macarius, stephanephor of Miletus.

  Macrianus: Titus Fulvius Junius Macrianus, son of Macrianus the Lame and known as Macrianus the Younger. With his brother, Quietus, usurped the throne in AD260 and died in AD261.

  Macrianus the Lame: Fulvius Macrianus, father of the usurpers Macrianus and Quietus. Was unable to assume the throne himself as he was physically deformed in one leg, so arranged to have his sons acclaimed joint emperors in AD260. Died in AD261.

  Maecianus: Prefect of Postumus’s Equites Singulares Augusti.

  Marcellus Orontius: Roman senator identified as a follower of the philosopher Plotinus by Porphyry.

  Marcianus: Aurelius Marcianus, one of Gallienus’s protectores.

  Marcus Aurelius: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, emperor AD161–80.

  Marcus Aurelius Dialis: Postumus’s governor of Germania Inferior.

  Marcus Aurelius Julianus: Roman knight, ambassador of Gallienus.

  Marinianus: Publius Licinius Egnatius Marinianus, youngest and sole surviving son of Gallienus.

  Marius: Postumus’s Praefectus Castrorum.

  Maximinus Thrax: Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus, Roman emperor AD235–8, 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 by Ballista. Now a freedman.

  Menoetius: Legendary Greek hero and father of Patroklos, accompanied Jason and the Argonauts in their search for the Golden Fleece.

  Montanus: Marcus Galerius Montanus Proculus, strategos of Olbia. The tomb of his great-grandmother, who lived to the remarkable age of ninety, still survives.

  Morcar: Son of Isangrim (1) and a woman of the Brondings; full brother of Oslac, elder half-brother of Ballista.

  Mord: Young Angle, son of Morcar.

  Mussius Aemilianus: Lucius Mussius Aemilianus, rebelled as Prefect of Egypt c. AD261–2 but was captured and replaced by Theodotus.

  Naulobates: King of the Heruli.

  Niger: Gaius Pescennius Niger, short-lived usurper in the east, AD193–4.

  Nummius Ceionius Albinus: Prefect of the City in AD256 and AD261–3, and Consul Ordinarius for the second time in AD263.

  Nummius Faustinianus: Consul Ordinarius with Gallienus in AD262.

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

  Odysseus: Legendary Greek hero of the Odyssey, encountered many trials and monsters on his ten-year return home from the siege of Troy.

  Oslac: Stepfather of Starkad (2) and second husband of Kadlin, son of Isangrim (1) and a Bronding woman, full brother of Morcar, elder half-brother of Ballista.

  Palfurius Sura: Gallienus’s ab Epistulis.

/>   Patroklos: Greek hero killed at Troy and avenged by Achilles, thought by some in antiquity to be his lover.

  Petronius: First-century AD author of the Latin novel The Satyricon; usually identified with Petronius Arbiter, sometime friend of Nero.

  Philip the Arab: Marcus Julius Philippus, Praetorian Prefect under the emperor Gordian III (AD238–44), became Roman emperor himself AD244–9.

  Pindar: Greek lyric poet.

  Pippa (or Pipa): Daughter of Attalus, king of the Marcomanni, known as Pippara to Gallienus.

  Pius: Titus Fulvius Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, sometimes shortened to Antoninus Pius, Roman emperor AD138–61.

  Placidianus: Julius Placidianus, Gallienus’s Prefectus Vigilum. An inscription in his honour survives from Grenoble.

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

  Pliny: Pliny the Younger, a prolific letter writer and author of a surviving speech in praise of the emperor Trajan (AD61/62–c. 113).

  Plotinus: Neoplatonist philosopher, AD205–69/70.

  Postumus: Marcus Cassianus Latinius Postumus, once governor of Lower Germany, from AD260 Roman emperor of the breakaway Gallic empire; murderer of Gallienus’s son Saloninus.

  Postumus Iunior: Son of the Gallic emperor Postumus, serving as a tribune of the Vocontii.

  Potamis: Slave trader on the Dnieper river, whose unpleasant character was referred to in The Wolves of the North.

  Priam: Legendary king of Troy during the siege recounted in Homer’s Iliad.

  Probus: Marcus Aurelius Probus, a young tribune from Pannonia, rescuer of Flaccinus.

  Proculus: Gallic prefect in the service of Gallienus.

  Pyrrhus of Epirus: King of Epirus, stunned by a roof tile while assaulting Sparta and subsequently beheaded (319/318–272BC).

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

  Quietus: Titus Fulvius Iunius Quietus, son of Macrianus the Elder, proclaimed Roman emperor with his brother Macrianus the Younger in AD260, and killed by Ballista in AD261.

  Quirinius: Aurelius Quirinius, Gallienus’s a Rationibus.

  Ragonius Clarus: Gaius Ragonius Clarus, a Roman senator, originally from Macedonia, a supporter of Postumus, had previously served as Ballista’s legate in Cilicia.

  Rebecca: Jewish slave woman bought by Ballista.

  Regalianus: One-time governor of Pannonia Inferior, who claimed descent from the kings of Dacia before the Roman conquest; rebelled against Gallienus and was killed in AD260.

  Regulus: Trierarch in charge of transporting Ballista’s embassy.

  Respa: Son of Gunteric, brother of Tharuaro; Gothic warrior of the Tervingi killed by Ballista at Didyma.

  Rikiar: Ugly Vandal warrior, member of Heoden’s hearth-troop, composer of poetry.

  Rufinus: Gallienus’s Princeps Peregrinorum, spymaster, commander of the frumentarii.

  Rullus: Publius Servilius Rullus, tribune of the Roman people in 63BC, proposed a set of radical measures to resettle the urban poor as farmers. Three of Cicero’s speeches against the proposals survive.

  Sabinillus: Roman senator; identified as a follower of the philosopher Plotinus by Porphyry.

  Saitaphernes: Member of the Boule of Olbia.

  Salonina: Egnatia Salonina, wife of Gallienus.

  Saloninus: Publius Cornelius Licinius Saloninus Valerianus, second son of Gallienus, made Caesar in AD258 on the death of his elder brother, Valerian II; executed by Postumus in AD260.

  Saturninus: L. Albinus Saturninus, consul in AD264.

  Scipio: Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus, usually shortened to Scipio Aemilianus; raised the city of Carthage to the ground in 146BC.

  Scyles: Half-Greek king of the Scythians, c. 500BC.

  Septimius Severus: Lucius Septimius Severus, Roman emperor AD193–211.

  Servilius Rufinus: Commander of Legio XXII Primigenia in Germania Superior, a supporter of Postumus.

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

  Silvanus: Governor of Germania Superior and Dux of the Rhine; his unreasonable requests forced Postumus to rebel in AD260.

  Simon: Young Jewish boy owned by Ballista.

  Simplicinius Genialis: Marcus Simplicinius Genialis, acting governor of Raetia and supporter of Postumus, later confirmed in his post and made Consul Ordinarius in reward.

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

  Starkad (1): Chief of the Angles, son of the cyning Hjar, Ballista’s grandfather.

  Starkad (2): Son of Kadlin, an Angle eorl. His banner is a white draco.

  Swerting: Angle, once friend of Eadwulf.

  Tacitus (1): Marcus Claudius Tacitus, Roman senator of 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 this is unlikely to be true.

  Tacitus (2): Cornelius Tacitus, c. AD56–c. 118, the greatest Latin historian.

  Tarchon: Warrior from Suania rescued by Ballista and Calgacus.

  Tatius: Ex-centurion attached to the embassy of Marcus Aurelius Julianus.

  Tetricius: Gaius Pius Esuvius Tetricius, Postumus’s governor of Aquitania.

  Tharuaro: Son of Gunteric, brother of Respa; Gothic warrior of the Tervingi killed by Ballista at Miletus.

  Theodotus: Aurelius Theodotus, Prefect of Egypt after putting down the revolt of Mussius Aemilianus; brother of Camsisoleus; one of the protectores.

  Thersites: Troublemaking and ugly Greek soldier mentioned by Homer in the Iliad, probably of low birth.

  Theseus: Legendary Greek hero, accepted help from the besotted Ariadne but later abandoned her on the island of Naxos.

  Tiridates: Son of King Chosroes of Armenia, serving in the army of Gallienus.

  Trajan: Marcus Ulpius Trajan, Roman emperor AD98–117.

  Trebellius Pollio: Amicus of Postumus; a highly uncomplimentary biography of Gallienus circulates under his name.

  Trimalchio: Fictional character in Petronius’s novel The Satyricon; vulgar and immensely rich host of a bizarre dinner party.

  Tulga: King of the Grethungi Goths, father of Tuluin.

  Tuluin: Gothic warrior, son of Tulga.

  Unferth: Ruler of the Brondings; as leader of an uprising against the authority of the Angles, assumes the title Amber Lord. In Old English, his name means something like Unrest or Harm Peace.

  Valerian (1): Publius Licinius Valerianus, an elderly Italian senator elevated to Roman emperor in AD253; captured by Shapur I in AD260.

  Valerian (2) the Younger: Publius Cornelius Licinius Valerianus, eldest son of Gallienus, grandson of Valerian, made Caesar in AD256; died in AD258.

  Vandrad: Childhood alias of Ballista taken from the Norse sagas; literally, Won’t-be-Told.

  Venutus: Valerius Venutus, a frumentarius in the service of Gallienus.

  Vermund: Heathobard in Ballista’s hearth-troop.

  Victorinus: Marcus Piavonius Victorinus, tribunus of Postumus’s Equites Singularis Consularis in Germania Inferior, encourages Postumus to rebel, rewarded with post of Praetorian Prefect in the new regime.

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

  Virius Lupus: Governor of Arabia.

  Vocontius Secundus: Gaius Vocontius Secundus, Postumus’s Princeps Peregrinorum.

  Volcatius Gallicanus: Gaius Julius Volcatius Gallicanus, amicus of Postumus and cousin of Ballista’s wife, Julia.

  Volusianus: Lucius Petronius Taurus Volusianus, Gallienus’s Praetorian Prefect, an Italian risen from the ranks; one of the protectores.

  Wada the Short: Childhood friend of Ballista with his brother, Wada the Tall; warriors of the Harii, they attach themselves to Ballista’s retinue.

  Wada the Tall: Brother of Wada the Short.

  Wealtheow: Wife of Heoroweard Paunch-Shaker, mother of Hathkin.

  Widsith Travel-Quick: Warlord among the Brondings, the son of Unferth; known by the title The Young Lord. In Ol
d English his name means something like Stranger.

  Wiglaf: Angle eorl. His banner is a red draco.

  Wulfmaer: Angle, father of Glaum.

  Xenophon: Athenian soldier and writer (c. 430–c. 350BC); author of the Anabasis (March Upcountry), an account of the escape from Persia of ten thousand Greek mercenaries who fell under his command after their original general was murdered.

  Yrmenlaf: Ruler of the Wylfings.

  Zenobia: Wife of Odenathus of Palmyra.

  Zik Zabrigan: Persian commander, framadar, defeated by Ballista at Corycus, now in Roman service.

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  First published 2013

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