This article first took shape as a presentation delivered at the 2023 annual gathering of the Theater Without Borders research collective in Verona, Italy. I would like to thank the members of TWB , as well as Jesus Tronch and Laura Estill, for their invaluable feedback at different stages of writing this text. I am also grateful to the different collaborators and advisers to the Rolecall project (Pablo Ruiz Fabo, Ana Valdemoros, Emiliana Russo and Tiago Sousa Garcia) , without whom none of this would have been possible in the first place. 1 A first step taken in this regard was the publication in September 2023 of "Crossdressed Characters in Early Modern European Theatre," a database designed and curated primarily by Ana Valdemoros that highlights "the many characters across early modern European theatre who, at some point in their stories, present themselves publicly and externally in attire that at the time would not have been associated with their gender." More in http:// www.rolecall.eu/crossdressed_characters, accessed 11 November 2023. 11 Digital version available at Internet Shakespeare Editions (https://internetshakespeare.uvic. ca/Library/Texts/JC/, ed. John D. Cox) , accessed 11 November 2023. 12 To clarify, only the asides that are marked explicitly in the early printed versions of the play (i.e. not the asides added by modern editors) are being considered. Additionally, all asides intended for another character and not exclusively directed at the audience are also not included. 13 Anastasia Ladefoged Larn and David Hasberg Zirak-Schmidt, "Introduction: Rediscovering Sophonisba in Early Modern Europe," Nordic Journal of Renaissance Studies 20 (2023) : iii. More on the historical figure of Sophonisba, also known as Saphanba'al, in Michael J. Siler, "Sophonisba of Numidia," in The Ancient World: Extraordinary People in Extraordinary Societies , Vol. 2, ed. Michael Shally-Jensen (Ipswich, MA: Grey House Publishing, 2017) , 1034-35. 14 Larn and Zirak-Schmidt, "Introduction: Rediscovering Sophonisba in Early Modern Europe," iii. 15 In a fortuitous coincidence, as the first draft of this study was being prepared in the Spring of 2023, Anastasia Ladefoged Larn and Ross Deans Kristensen-McLachlan's article "What is a Protagonist? A Computationally Assisted Analysis of the Character Centrality of Cleopatra and Sophonisbe in Early Modern French Drama" was nearing publication in the journal Orbis Litterarum (issue 78) . The same year, the Nordic Journal of Renaissance Studies released in 2023 a monographic issue (20) dedicated to the study of the depiction of Sophonisba in early modern literature, co-edited by Larn and David Hasberg Zirak-Schmidt. Despite the overlaps in both methodology and subject of study, my quantitative exploration of the dramatic character of Sophonisba was originally conducted independently and without knowledge of Larn and Kristensen-McLachlan's article. I am grateful to the editorial team at Comparative Drama for making me aware of its existence in the production stage, after which I was able to incorporate their insight and conclusions into my own analysis. I also wish to acknowledge here my debt of gratitude to the work of the scholars who participated in the monographic issue, whose contributions helped greatly shape the writing of this article. 16 The digital version used in this study is available at Biblioteca Italiana (http:// www.bibliotecaitaliana.it/testo/bibit000465) , accessed 11 November 2023. Additionally, there is an online multi-lingual (Italian-French-Spanish) edition of the play available at the EMOTHE Biblioteca Digital (https://emothe.uv.es/biblioteca/textosParalelo/EM0231) , accessed 11 November 2023. More on Trissino's play in Beatrice Corrigan, "Two Renaissance Views of Carthage: Trissino's Sofonisba and Castellini's Asdrubale ," Comparative Drama 5, no. 3 (1971) : 193-206; Diego Perotti, "Is There a Printer's Copy of Gian Giorgio Trissino's Sophonisba ?," Textual Cultures 14, no. 1 (2021) : 106-23. 17 A digital transcription of the 1601 print edition used in this study is available at Theatre Classique (http:// www.theatre-classique.fr/pages/programmes/edition.php?t=../documents/MONTCHRETIEN_CARTHAGINOISE.xml) , accessed 11 November 2023. More in Christian Delmas, "Les Sophonisbe et le Renouveau de la Tragedie en France," Seizieme Siecle 208, no. 3 (2000) : 57-80; Nina Hugot, "L'eloquence De Sophonisbe, De Saint-Gelais Montreux (1556-1601) ," Nordic Journal of Renaissance Studies 20 (2023) : 29-52; Clotilde Thouret, "Les Epreuves de la Fidelite. La trahison dans les Sophonisbe sur les scenes italienne, francaise et anglaise aux XVIe et XVIIe siecles," Seizieme Siecle 5 (2009) : 100-105. 18 A digital transcription of the 1606 print edition used in this study was created by the Text Creation Partnership and is available at Oxford Text Archive (https://ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repository/xmlui/bitstream/handle/20.500.12024/A07083/A07083.html?sequence=5&isAllowed=y) , accessed 11 November 2023. More in Jacqueline Chauchaix, "Mythe et Histoire dans la Sophonisbe de J. Marston," in Actes des congres de la Societe Francaise Shakespeare 5: Mythe et histoire, ed. M.T. Jones-Davies (Paris: Jean Touzot, 1984) , 127-45; Donald Stone Jr, "John Marston's Sophonisba and Nicolas De Montreux," Revue de Litterature Comparee 60, no. 1 (1986) : 67-70. 19 In lieu of the lost original 1608 edition, a digital facsimile of the 1609 print edition used