Troilus
A prince of Troy. The younger brother of Hector and Paris, he is a valiant warrior and an honorable man. He is also desperately in love with Cressida.
Cressida
A beautiful young Trojan woman. The daughter of Calchas, a Trojan priest who defected to the Greek camp, she becomes Troilus's lover.
Hector
A prince of Troy. The greatest warrior on the Trojan side—and matched in might only by Achilles himself—he is a hero to his entire city and is respected even by his enemies.
Ulysses
One of the Greek commanders. A highly intelligent, even philosophical man, he is renowned for his cunning.
Pandarus
Cressida's uncle. He serves as a go-between for Troilus and Cressida, acting as a kind of cheerful, bawdy pimp for his niece.
Thersites
A deformed slave serving Ajax who has a vicious, abusive tongue.
Achilles
The greatest of the Greek warriors, he is also an arrogant, vicious thug, who refuses to fight in the war whenever his pride is injured.
Ajax
A Greek warrior, he is as proud as Achilles, but less intelligent and less skilled in battle.
Agamemnon
The Greek general, and the elder brother of Menelaus.
Diomedes
A Greek commander who seduces Cressida.
Paris
A prince of Troy. His theft of Menelaus's wife, Helen, precipitated the Trojan War.
Menelaus
A Greek commander, Agamemnon's brother, and the abandoned husband of Helen.
Helen
Menelaus's wife. Her elopement with Paris led to the Trojan War.
Calchas
A Trojan priest, and Cressida's father. He defected to the Greeks in the early days of the war.
Aeneas
A Trojan commander.
Nestor
The oldest of the Greek commanders.
Cassandra
A Trojan princess and prophetess; she is considered mad.
Patroclus
A Greek warrior. Achilles's best friend—and, it is suggested, his lover.
Priam
The king of Troy, and the father of Hector, Paris, and Troilus, among others.
Antenor
A Trojan commander, he is exchanged for Cressida after his capture by the Greeks.
Helenus
A prince of Troy.
Andromache
Hector's wife.