Claudius Aelianus in the context of "Ocyrhoë (Samian nymph)"

Cleitus (Clitus) the White (Ancient Greek: Κλεῖτος ὁ λευκός; died c. 317 BC) was an officer of Alexander the Great surnamed "White" to distinguish him from Cleitus the Black. He is noted by Athenaeus and Aelian for his pomp and luxury, and is probably the same who is mentioned by Justin among the veterans sent home to Macedonia under Craterus in 324 BC.

In Greek mythology, Nerites (Ancient Greek: Νηρίτης, romanized: Nērítēs, lit. 'sea snail') is a minor sea deity, the son of "Old Man of the Sea" Nereus and the Oceanid nymph Doris, and brother of the fifty Nereids (apparently their only male sibling). He was described as a young boy of stunning beauty. According to Aelian, although Nerites was never mentioned by epic poets such as Homer and Hesiod he was a common figure in the mariners' folklore nevertheless.

In Greek mythology, Phaon (Ancient Greek: Φάων; gen.: Φάωνος) was a mythical boatman of Mytilene in Lesbos. He was old and ugly when Aphrodite came to his boat. She put on the guise of a crone. Phaon ferried her over to Asia Minor and accepted no payment for doing so. In return, she gave him a box of ointment. When he rubbed it on himself, he became young and beautiful. Many were captivated by his beauty.

According to Athenian Theater, Sappho fell in love with him. He lay with her but soon grew to resent her and devalue her. Sappho was so distraught with his rejection that she threw herself into the sea under the superstition that she would be either cured of her love, or drowned. She was drowned. Aelian says that Phaon was killed by a man whom he was cuckolding.

There are numerous surviving ancient Greek and Latin sources on Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, as well as some Asian texts. The five main surviving accounts are by Arrian, Plutarch, Diodorus Siculus, Quintus Curtius Rufus, and Justin. In addition to these five main sources, there is the Metz Epitome, an anonymous late Latin work that narrates Alexander's campaigns from Hyrcania to India. Much is also recounted incidentally by other authors, including Strabo, Athenaeus, Polyaenus, Aelian, and others. Strabo, who gives a summary of Callisthenes, is an important source for Alexander's journey to Siwah.

Thyus (in Greek Θύoς or Θυς; lived 4th century BC) was a Persian prince of Paphlagonia (in today Turkey) who rebelled against Artaxerxes II. Datames, who was his first cousin, endeavoured to persuade him to return to his allegiance; but this had no effect, and on one occasion, when Datames had sought a friendly conference with him, Thyus laid a plot for his assassination. Datames escaped the danger through a timely warning given him by his mother, and, on his return to his own government, declared war against Thyus, subdued him, and made him a prisoner together with his wife and children. He then arrayed him in all the insignia of his royal rank, dressed himself in hunter's garb, and, having fastened a rope round Thyus, drove him before him with a cudgel, and brought him in this guise into the presence of Artaxerxes, as if he were a wild beast that he had captured. Cornelius Nepos describes Thyus as a man of huge stature and grim aspect, with dark complexion, and long hair and beard. Aelian notices him as notorious for his voracity, while Theopompus related that he was accustomed to have one hundred dishes placed on his table at one meal, and that, when he was imprisoned by Artaxerxes, he continued the same course of life, which drew from the king the remark that Thyus was living as if he expected a speedy death.

Campaspe (/kæmˈpæspiː/; Greek: Καμπάσπη, Kampaspē), or Pancaste (/pæŋˈkæstiː/; Greek: Παγκάστη, Pankastē; also Pakate), was a supposed mistress of Alexander the Great and a prominent citizen of Larissa in Thessaly. No Campaspe appears in the five major sources for the life of Alexander and the story may be apocryphal. The biographer Robin Lane Fox traces her legend back to the Roman authors Pliny (Natural History), Lucian of Samosata and Aelian's Varia Historia. Aelian surmised that she initiated the young Alexander in love.

According to tradition, she was painted by Apelles, who had the reputation in antiquity for being the greatest of painters. The episode occasioned an apocryphal exchange that was reported in Pliny's Natural History: "Seeing the beauty of the nude portrait, Alexander saw that the artist appreciated Campaspe (and loved her) more than he. And so Alexander kept the portrait, but presented Campaspe to Apelles." Fox describes this bequest as "the most generous gift of any patron and one which would remain a model for patronage and painters on through the Renaissance." Apelles also used Campaspe as a model for his most celebrated painting of Aphrodite "rising out of the sea", the iconic Venus Anadyomene, "wringing her hair, and the falling drops of water formed a transparent silver veil around her form".