Philip Avent

Philip is the 52nd Prince of the Aventine House and a son of Emperor William XXIII, sharing the red hair and emerald eyes of the Imperial line. He is a minor, dissolute figure of the court -- habitually drunk, crude, and openly contemptuous toward those beneath his station.

At the Colosso games, Philip makes a lewd remark about Valka within earshot of Hadrian, prompting Hadrian to confront him directly. Philip recoils and drops his wine cup. In the aftermath, Philip proposes in a flat, rehearsed tone that Hadrian be made to fight in the Colosseum -- a suggestion Hadrian recognizes as planted by the Empress Maria Agrippina. Philip's personal gladiator is the Jaddian fighter Irshan.