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 calm and patient. He hates cruelty and avoids violence if possible. He's also brave, caring, selfless and loyal.

Background
In a premium scene in Chapter 1, Syphax tells Main Character about his origins. He came from Numidia, a country in North Africa. He originated from a family of farmers. After his father took a part of uprising, Syphax was incorporated into Roman legion. Since then he had no contact with his family, and he proposes to the Main Character that the two of them pray together in their families' memory.

In Chapter 4, after the hunt, Syphax continues his story. His family was poor because their ancestors had arisen against Rome earlier, and the Romans held a grudge that extended for another generation. If Main Character asks him why he left Numidia, he repeats that it was a punishment for his parents' uprising but to him, it was rather a chance of a lifetime - like traveling to gods. If Main Character asks him instead about his childhood, Syphax says that he used to help his parents by working in the fields, but he also had a lot of free time; he also mentions that he had four sisters. He thinks his father wanted him to follow in his own footsteps and Syphax resented it. They fought a lot about the issue.

In a premium choice, if Main Character chooses to take a walk with him through the woods, he adds more details about what happened to him before joining the legions. As a young boy he used to hunt animals in the wilderness to provide meat for his family. When he turned 14, he started to leave his house to travel, sometimes alone and sometimes hired by caravans. The older he grew, the further he used to travel. Once he spent a year on the desert with a caravan. He went also to Egypt, where he took part in crocodile hunt for venatio (a fight between gladiator and a beast). Syphax says that hunting crocodiles was a challenge, giving him the satisfaction from pushing himself to his limits, but venatio itself was nothing but a cruel slaughter.

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.

Family
Depending on questions you ask Syphax, you get different fragments of his story. His parents were farmers, and young Syphax helped them working on the field. His father wanted him to follow his footsteps, but Syphax hated this kind of work, so they fought a lot. Syphax had four sisters, but wasn't very close to them, because their father wanted his son to spend more time with the other men. We don't know names of Syphax's parents and sisters, neither do we know whether the sisters were older or younger than their brother. After joining Roman legions, Syphax lost contact with them.

Trivia

 * He is shown on the cover of A Courtesan of Rome.
 * It's mentioned several times (Chapters 1, 4 and 7, some of the mentions being in premium scenes) that Syphax comes from Numidia, historical country on the territory of today Algeria. The capital of Numidia was called Cirta (today Constantine).
 * He takes the fall for the Main Character when she kills Tribune Rufus.
 * If you decide to make prayers with him in Chapter 1, it's revealed that he worships Great Mother Isis.
 * He mentions several times (Chapters 1, 4 and 19) that he previously served in the legions.