Ajax

AJAX, the “great” or “Telamonian AJAX”, son of Telamon, was the more important of the two. He was a legendary hero of Ancient Greece and the king of Cypress. In the Iliad, he is described as being of colossal frame and great stature. He was second only to Achilles in strength and bravery, and the “bulwark of the Achaeans.” He fought Hector in single combat, and with the aid of Athene, rescued the body of Achilles from the hands of the Trojans. There was a competition between AJAX and Odysseus for the armor of Achilles. Athene influenced the decision of Agamemnon to award the prize to Odysseus. The enraged AJAX so much that it caused his death (Odyssey, xi. 541). According to a later more definitive story, his disappointment drove him mad. He rished out of his tent and fell upon the flocks of sheep in the camp under the impression that they were the enemy; uncoming to his senses, he slew himself with the sword which he had received as a present from Hector. This is the account of his death given in the AJAX of Sophocles (Pindar, Nemea, 7; Ovid, Met. xiii. i).

AJAX, the “lesser”, son of Oileus, he was called the “lesser” or “Locrian AJAX”. He was the king of Locris. Although he was small in stature, he held his own among the strongest heroes before Troy. He was very brave, only second to Achilles in swiftness of foot and in fame for throwing the spear. But he was boastful, arrogant, and quarrelsome; like the Telamonian AJAX, he was the enemy of Odysseus. In the end, he was the victim of the vengeance of Athene, who wrecked his ship on his homeward voyage (Odyssey, iv. 499). A later story gives the account of his guilt. It was said that after the fall of Troy, he dragged Cassandra away by force from the statue of the goddess, at which she had taken refuge as a suppliant, and even violated her (Lycophron, 360, Quintus Smyrnaus xiii. 422). For this, the ship was wrecked in a storm, and he himself was struck by lightning.