The Great Ajax

In his epic poem the Iliad, Greek poet Homer (c. ninth-eighth century BCE) portrayed the Great Ajax as an enormous man who was the defender of the Greeks. Other Greek heroes such as Achilles and Odysseus were famous for their offensive weapons—the spear and the bow, respectively. Ajax was famous for his shield, a protective device. It was so large that it could shelter not only himself but also his half brother, Teucer. Ajax did his greatest fighting when in retreat. Homer described him as being driven slowly from the battle “like a donkey beaten out of

Left: Ajax by the Sea by Italian artist Francesco Sabatelli (1803—1829).The painting depicts the Locrian Ajax clinging to a rock after his raping of a suppliant caused the goddess Athena to sink the Greeks’ ships.

A field with sticks.” Ajax may have been defeated at times, but he never ceased to resist. In further contrast to other Greek heroes in the Trojan War, Ajax was not aided by an Olympian deity. Athena, goddess of war and arts, supported Odysseus; the sea goddess Thetis, together with Zeus’s wife, Hera, aided Achilles. Ajax, however, fought alone.

When Achilles refused to fight the Trojans because of an argument with Agamemnon, the Greek commander, the Greeks chose Ajax to battle the Trojan champion Hector in single combat. Although Ajax had the upper hand at some points during the duel, both fighters were well matched for strength. They eventually exchanged gifts since neither of them could win, and Hector died in a later battle at the hands of Achilles. Later, Ajax carried the corpse of the dead Achilles from the battlefield—a scene that was often depicted in Greek art. Although honorable in battle, Ajax showed another side to his character when the Greeks gave Achilles’ armor to Odysseus instead of to Ajax. Ajax felt so cheated and betrayed that he went insane. He attacked the army’s flocks and herds under the delusion that he was murdering the leading Greeks. When he recovered his wits, he was so ashamed that he killed himself by falling on his own sword. His death was another popular theme in Greek art and was depicted in the play Ajax by Greek dramatist Sophocles (c. 496-406 BCE).

The Greeks held games on the island in Ajax’s honor, and when the Athenian tribes were reorganized at the end of the sixth century BCE, one of the new tribes, the Aiantis, was dedicated to Ajax.

In addition, the powerful Athenian Philaidai dynasty claimed descent from Ajax. Philaidai family members included the general Miltiades (c. 554-489 BCE), who led the Greek army to victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon, and the historian Thucydides (d. c. 401 BCE), who wrote the History of the Peloponnesian War about the conflict between Athens and Sparta.