- Ralph M. Trilipush (Brit.) – Harvard-employed Egyptologist, MA and partial PhD from Oxford, author of Desire and Deceit in Ancient Egypt, heir to Trilipush Hall in Kent, during World War I served in counter-intelligence in Egypt and was wounded at Gallipoli, leading scholar of Atum-hadu
- Harold Ferrell (Austral.) – private detective, memoirist
- Howard Carter (Brit.) – renowned Egyptologist, discoverer of the tomb of Tutankhamun
- The Fifth Earl of Carnarvon (Brit.) – amateur Egyptologist and financial patron of Howard Carter
- Atum – Egyptian creator-god, created the next generation of gods by masturbating onto fertile soil
- Atum-hadu – “Atum-Is-Aroused”, widely debated final (?) king (?) of Egypt’s XIIIth Dynasty, named for the moment immediately prior to creation (see Atum), author (?) of widely debatedAdmonitions of Atum-hadu
- Chester Crawford Finneran (US) – “CCF”, owner of Finneran’s Finer Finery in Boston, patron of the Trilipush Expedition, soon-to-be father-in-law to Trilipush
- Margaret Finneran (US) – socialite, daughter to Chester, fiancée to Trilipush
- Master of Largesse – Atum-hadu’s advisor and treasurer, and Trilipush’s fond nickname for CCF
- Hugo St. John Marlowe (Brit.) – army Captain and Oxford graduate student of Egyptology, killed in the First World War, closest friend of Trilipush
- Julius Padraig O’Toole (US) – investor in the Trilipush Expedition, owner of JPs speakeasy, godfather to Margaret Finneran
- Heinz Kovacs (US) – investor in the Trilipush Expedition, perpetually tormented by the US Attorney General and IRS
- Clement Wexler (Brit.) – Oxford don of Egyptology, known for his skepticism
- F. Wright Harriman (Scot.) – first translator of the Admonitions of Atum-hadu
- Jean-Michel Vassal (Fr.) – second translator of the Admonitions of Atum-hadu
- Paul Caldwell (Austral.) – amateur Egyptologist, circus performer, librarian, Communist agitator, corporal in the Australian Imperial Force, lost in the First World War
- Barnabas Davies (Brit.) – brewer, millionaire, former merchant sailor, epic philanderer
- Laurence Macy III ( US) – nephew to Margaret Finneran and Cornelius Macy, family historian, correspondent, drafted as literary side-kick by Ferrell
- Beverly Quint (Brit.) – Oxford student, friend to Marlowe and Trilipush
- Boyd and Emma Hoyt (Austral.) – husband and wife, clown and poodle trainer, last owners of the Flipping Hoyt Brothers circus, Sydney
- Catherine and Ronald Barry (Austral.) – brother and sister, schoolmaster and librarian, Bolshevik agitators, protectors of Paul Caldwell
- Claes ter Breuggen (Hol.) – Chair of Egyptology, Harvard University, employer of Trilipush
- Pierre Lacau (Fr.) – Director-General of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, overseer and licenser of all excavations in Egypt
- Ahmed (Egy.) – first foreman of the Trilipush Expedition
- Amr (Egy.) – second foreman of the Trilipush Expedition
