| Agnolo | Ambrogini | Italian classical scholar and poet. Aka: Poliziano. |
| Ralph | Bagnold | English 20th-century desert explorer, geologist and soldier. |
| Fenelon | Barnes | Desert explorer. |
| John | Bell | The director of Desert Surveys in Egypt. |
| Dr. | Bermann | Desert explorer. |
| Wasfi | Bey | One of the desert explorers. |
| Marie-Henri | Beyle | 19th-century French writer. Aka: Stendhal. |
| Lieutenant | Blackler | Singh acquaintance. |
| Sandro | Botticelli | Italian painter. |
| Don | Bradman | Australian cricketer. |
| Charles | Brandon | 1st Duke of Suffolk, was an English military leader and courtier. |
| Tim | Buck | General secretary of the Communist Party of Canada. |
| David | Caravaggio | Hana's father's friend. |
| Captain | Carlyle | One who is working in a shaft with frozen oxygen. |
| Marcus Tullius | Cicero | Roman statesman, lawyer. |
| Geoffrey | Clifton | British Conservative Party politician. |
| Katharine | Clifton | Geoffrey Clifton's wife. |
| Stephen | Crane | American poet, novelist, and short story writer. |
| Kabir | Das | 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint. |
| Ladislaus | de Almásy | Aviator. |
| Abd el Melik | el Zwaya | One who lived in Zuck oasis pasturing camels. |
| Duke | Ellington | American composer. |
| Pierro della | Francesca | Italian painter. |
| Servius | Galba | Roman emperor. |
| George | Gershwin | American composer. |
| Ira | Gershwin | American lyricist. |
| Stephane | Grappelli | French-Italian jazz violinist. |
| Baba | Gujhaji | The first priest of the temple. |
| James | Halliday | Australian wine writer and critic. |
| | Hardy | Military sergeant. |
| Lorenz | Hart | The lyricist half of the Broadway songwriting team. |
| Fred | Harts | A chauffer. |
| Ahmed | Hassanein | Egyptian photographer. |
| Oliver | Hodge | Film art director. |
| Kamal el Dine | Hussein | The son of Sultan Hussein. |
| Gertrude | Jekyll | British horticulturist, garden designer. |
| Dr. | Kadar | Geologist. |
| Albert | Kesselring | German military commander. |
| Glenn | Miller | American trombonist. |
| Pico della | Mirandola | Italian philosopher. Poliziano's friend. |
| Miss | Morden | A secretary. |
| Guru | Nanak | The founder of Sikhism. |
| Ezra | Pound | Expatriate American poet. |
| Claudius | Ptolemy | Greek mathematician, astronomer, geographer and astrologer. |
| Django | Reinhardt | Belgian jazz guitarist. |
| Richard | Rodgers | American composer. |
| Franklin D. | Roosevelt | 32nd president of U.S. |
| Girolamo | Savonarola | Italian Dominican friar. |
| Sergeant | Shand | A soldier. |
| Frank | Sinatra | American singer. |
| Kirpal | Singh | A young Sikh. Aka: Kip. |
| Miss | Swift | Aviator. |
| Cornelius | Tacitus | Roman historian and politician. |
| Leo | Tolstoy | Russian writer. |
| Ranuccio | Tommasoni | Caravaggio's acquaintance. |
| Paolo | Toscanelli | Italian astrologer, mathematician, and cosmographer. |
| Harry | Truman | The 33rd president of the United States. |
| Simonetta | Vespucci | Italian noblewoman from Genoa. |
| Rudolf Carl | von Slatin | Anglo-Austrian soldier and administrator. Aka: Slatin Pasha. |
| Marianne | Williamson | American author, politician, and activist. |
| N. C. | Wyeth | American artist and illustrator. |
| Giuseppe | Zanotti | Italian luxury footwear and fashion designer. |
| Abishag | | A beautiful person of Shunem. |
| Abraham | | One of the prophets. |
| Aeneas | | Trojan hero in Greek mythology. |
| Alexander III | | King of the Greek Kingdom, known as Alexander the Great. |
| Alice | | Hana's mother. |
| Anna | | Mistress of an officer. |
| Anubis | | The Egyptian god of mummification. |
| Caligula | | The third Roman emperor. |
| Candaules | | King of the ancient Kingdom of Lydia. |
| Casparius | | Photographer. |
| Clara | | Hana's stepmother. |
| Claudius | | The emperor from AD 41 to 54. |
| Daskylus | | Gyges's father. |
| David | | King of Israel. |
| Delilah | | Biblical figure. |
| Demetrius I | | Macedonian military leader. |
| Dido | | Singer-songwriter. |
| Duamutef | | The four sons of Horus. |
| Gianetta | | Caravaggio's wife. |
| Giotto | | Italian painter. |
| Gyges | | The founder of the Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings. |
| Hana | | A nurse. |
| Hercules | | Roman hero and god. |
| Herodotus | | Ancient Greek historian. |
| Homer | | The legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. |
| Isaiah | | One of the prophets. |
| Isaiah | | The 8th-century BC Israelite prophet. |
| Leonardo | | Italian polymath of the Renaissance. |
| Leopold II | | The King of the Belgians. |
| Lorenzo | | Poliziano's friend. |
| Madox | | Katharine's acquaintance. |
| Michaelangelo | | Italian sculptor. |
| Narcissus | | Laconian hunter. |
| Nero | | The last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. |
| Noah | | Biblical figure |
| Odysseus | | Legendary hero in Greek mythology. |
| Patrick | | Hana's father. |
| Plato | | Athenian philosopher. |
| Ramananda | | 14th-century Vaishnava devotional poet saint. |
| Rommel | | Almasy's acquaintance. |
| Sansom | | The man who helped catch Eppler in Cairo. |
| Solomon | | King of Israel. |
| Tebu | | Caravan guide. |
| Tiberius | | The second Roman emperor. |
| Wepwawet | | Originally a war god from Upper Egypt. |
