Syphax

Syphax, a character in the A Courtesan of Rome book, was your bodyguard and one of your love interests. He is first seen in Chapter 1.

Appearance
Syphax has brown eyes, short black hair and dark skin. He wears Roman armor.

Personality
Syphax is gentle and patient, though when someone threatens his ward, he subdues him without hesitation. Syphax is extremely loyal, obedient and and faithful.

In premium choices, we can get to know his past. Being a strong and healthy young boy, he used to guard caravans, then send most of the money to his parents, and for some time was the main supporter of his family. In Chapter 1, he suggests the Main Character to pray for their families safety or memory. He cares for his family, although he wouldn't want to return to Numidia.

Series/Book: A Courtesan of Rome

 * Chapter 1: A Princess of Gaul
 * Chapter 2: Crossing the Rubicon
 * Chapter 3: The Aid of the Gods
 * Chapter 4: The Hunt
 * Chapter 5: Red-Handed
 * Chapter 6: Marked
 * Chapter 8: The Goddess of Watching
 * Chapter 10: Snakes in the Grass
 * Chapter 11: Trial By Combat
 * Chapter 12: Raising The Stakes
 * Chapter 13: Bread and Circus
 * Chapter 15: Best Served Cold
 * Chapter 17: A Life for a Life
 * Chapter 18: The Die is Cast
 * Chapter 19: A Warrior's Death
 * Chapter 20: The Liberators
 * Chapter 21: The Ides of March

Main Character
Syphax is the Main Character's bodyguard and one of her love interests. Even as just a friend, he is devoted enough to her to take the blame for murder in her place. He tells her that he will not stand in her way when she has to do what must be done. In Chapter 17, he tells Victus that if one of them must die in the arena, he wants it to be himself as he was willing to die for Arin before and would rather die than have her hate him for killing her father. Even if Main Character does not pursue him romantically, he tells Victus that he loves her.

In Chapter 18, she is confronted with the choice of trying to free either Syphax or Victus. If she chooses to free Syphax and succeeds with the help of her reputation, he will be freed immediately. They can also go swimming together in a premium scene. He tells her that he has always supported her but didn't truly understand her hatred towards Rome until he became a gladiator. In Chapter 19, he will then sit in the audience when Main Character has to fight in the arena. If he is not free, he will train her and fight in the arena together with her and will be freed after winning.

In Chapter 21, Syphax and Main Character are attacked by Roman soldiers and can fight them together. He tends to her when she gets wounded. If she chooses to be with him at the end of the book, she can tell him that she either wants to go to Gaul with him and restore her tribe together, take care of the scholae, or travel with him to Numidia.

Lena
Lena is his boss. Their relation is based on mutual respect and trust. When Syphax is imprisoned, Lena is truly pained with loss of one of her best subordinates. She and Main Character try to make a plan to save him.

Xanthe
Syphax was once Xanthe's bodyguard, and she gave him hard time with her whims and arrogance. He didn't like the way she used to treat her patrons, as if they were tools. According to him, Xanthe was always her own worst enemy. In Chapter 20, Lena orders him to escort her to her ship to Sicily. When she refuses to leave, he has to usher her out of the scholae.

Trivia

 * He is shown on the cover of A Courtesan of Rome.
 * In a premium choice in Chapter 1, Syphax revealed that he is from Numidia.
 * If you didn't select the premium choice, Marc Antony confirms that Syphax is Numidian at the end of Chapter 7.
 * He takes the fall for the Main Character when she kills Tribune Rufus.
 * In Chapter 19, he reveals that he previously served in the legions.