Outside a palace on the Syrian border of Egypt in 48 BCE, two clusters of soldiers congregate. In the opening stage directions, Shaw compares the Egyptians to his contemporary England, declaring the Egyptians to be more civilized. One group of soldiers laughs, surrounding a guard who has just told a bawdy story. The other watches attentively as Belzanor, their captain, who is about 50 years old, gambles with a young Persian soldier, whom he doesn’t fully trust. The Persian wins. He offers Belzanor another round, double or nothing, but Belzanor declines. A sentinel hears a noise and calls out, grasping his spear. A voice calls back, identifying himself as “the bearer of evil tidings” (6), announcing that the Romans will be there soon to kill them all, including women. He enters, laughing fatalistically, and introduces himself as Bel Affris, “descended from the gods” (7). The Persian explains that Queen Cleopatra’s guards are all descended from gods—except for him. He is descended from kings.

Belzanor is disdainful as Bel Affris states that the Romans had quickly defeated them, but Bel Affris is unperturbed. The other guards push him to tell the story of the battle. Bel Affris explains that he is a new guard at the temple of Ra.