List of Bartimaeus Characters - Historical Magicians

Historical Magicians

• Ptolemy (surname unknown) was a second century B.C. magician who was one of the first magicians to study the Other Place and the first one to visit there and return. He was a benevolent master to his demons, who wished to learn from the spirits he summoned rather than subjugate them into slavery, and was described by Bartimaeus as his most beloved master. He was twelve when he first summoned Bartimaeus, the same age Mandrake was in the Amulet of Samarkand. Ptolemy was the nephew of Ptolemy VIII and cousin to Ptolemy IX, and he lived in Alexandria, Egypt. He was kind to the common people and grew in popularity with them. For instance, he once saved a little girl from a charging bull with the help of Bartimaeus. His cousin was jealous and afraid that Ptolemy would steal his place on the throne, so he made several attempts to assassinate him. Finally, with the help of Roman magicians, Ptolemy IX succeeded. However, before he died, Ptolemy gave Bartimaeus three gifts: that he was treated as an equal, that he could travel the world and that he may live, while Ptolemy would die. Bartimaeus often took his form when in the material world as a mark of respect and stated that Ptolemy was the only magician who actually trusted him enough not to use a pentacle to control him. Ptolemy created Ptolemy's Gate, a method of reversing summons so that one could travel to the Other Place.
• William Ewart Gladstone was a very powerful nineteenth century British magician, who rose to become a Prime Minister. He led the Grand Army of the Empire on conquests that decimated countries and made them a part of the British empire, largely through the means of his staff. At the height of the Czech Empire, called The Holy Roman Empire by Bartimaeus, he talked the commoner Parliament into handing power to him and the magicians (though this is probably magician propaganda, and in fact the transition of power was more than likely a coup d'état), and raised Britain to a powerful empire. His staff is endowed with vast magical powers, drawn from several great entities trapped in a space as large as a thimble. The Staff became more powerful as Gladstone himself waned, and ended up being the most powerful talisman in centuries. It was encased with him in his tomb, protected by a mad afrit (Honorius) trapped in his bones. Even without the staff he is still considered to be the most powerful magician in the history of Britain, able to summon a legion of Afrits on his own. This was later taken by Kitty in the Golem's Eye.
• Benjamin Disraeli was another magician-prime minister, Disraeli was a rival of Gladstone's and they had a magical duel on Westminster Common.
• King Solomon was a very powerful magician who lived in the Middle East around 1000 BC, and had a magical ring, the Seal of Solomon, from which he could control over 20,000 spirits (Bartimaeus, Faquarl and Honorius being some). He features prominently in The Ring of Solomon and is the only historical magician other than Ptolemy who appears in the series. Although initially depicted as a typically greedy and heartless ruler it is revealed that he is actually a fairly virtuous individual, using his ring mainly for the common good. He is mentioned several times throughout the main trilogy by Bartimaeus.
• Gilgamesh was a powerful Babylonian King who reigned in the 2000s B.C. With Bartimaeus's help, he slayed the giant, Humbaba.
• '"Hiawatha'" was a Native American magician responsible for founding the Iroquois Confederacy. Bartimaeus claims to have been associated with him.