Description In the account of
Dares the Phrygian, Ajax was illustrated as ". . .powerful. His voice was clear, his hair black and curly. He was perfectly single-minded and unrelenting in the onslaught of battle." Meanwhile, In Homer's
Iliad he is described as of great stature, colossal frame, and strongest of all the
Achaeans. Known as the "bulwark of the
Achaeans", he was trained by the
centaur Chiron (who had trained Ajax's father Telamon and Achilles' father
Peleus and later died of an accidental wound inflicted by a poison arrow belonging to
Heracles). He was described as fearless, strong, and powerful but also with a very high level of combat intelligence. Ajax commands his army wielding a huge shield made of seven cowhides with a layer of bronze. Most notably, Ajax is not wounded in any of the battles described in the
Iliad, and he is the only principal character on either side who does not receive substantial assistance from any of the gods (except for Agamemnon) who take part in the battles, although, in book 13,
Poseidon strikes Ajax with his staff, renewing his strength. Unlike
Diomedes,
Agamemnon, and
Achilles, Ajax appears as a mainly defensive warrior, instrumental in the defense of the Greek camp and ships and that of
Patroclus' body. When the Trojans are on the offensive, he is often seen covering the retreat of the Achaeans. Significantly, while one of the deadliest heroes in the whole poem, Ajax has no
aristeia depicting him on the offensive., a marble sculpture carved in the first century BC probably depicting Ajax.
Trojan War In the
Iliad, Ajax is notable for his abundant strength and courage, seen particularly in two fights with
Hector. In Book 7, Ajax is chosen by lot to meet Hector in a duel which lasts most of a whole day. Ajax at first gets the better of the encounter, wounding Hector with his spear and knocking him down with a large stone, but Hector battles on until the
heralds, acting at the direction of Zeus, call a draw, with the two combatants exchanging gifts, Ajax giving Hector his "war-belt, glistening purple" and Hector giving Ajax his "silver-studded sword" The second fight between Ajax and Hector occurs when the latter breaks into the Mycenaean camp, and battles with the Greeks among their ships. In Book 14, Ajax throws a giant rock at Hector which almost kills him. In Book 15, Hector is restored to his strength by
Apollo and returns to attack the ships. Ajax, wielding an enormous spear as a weapon and leaping from ship to ship, holds off the
Trojan armies virtually single-handedly. In Book 16, Hector and Ajax duel once again. Hector then disarms Ajax (although Ajax is not hurt) and Ajax is forced to retreat, seeing that Zeus is clearly favoring Hector. Hector and the Trojans succeed in burning one Greek ship, the culmination of an assault that almost finishes the war. Ajax is responsible for the death of many Trojan lords, including
Phorcys. Ajax often fought in tandem with his brother Teucer, known for his skill with the bow. Ajax would wield his magnificent shield, as Teucer stood behind picking off enemy Trojans. Achilles was absent during these encounters because of his feud with Agamemnon. In Book 9, Agamemnon and the other Mycenaean chiefs send Ajax,
Odysseus and
Phoenix to the tent of Achilles in an attempt to reconcile with the great warrior and induce him to return to the fight. Although Ajax speaks earnestly and is well received, he does not succeed in convincing Achilles. When Patroclus is killed, Hector tries to steal his body. Ajax, assisted by
Menelaus, succeeds in fighting off the Trojans and taking the body back with his chariot; however, the Trojans have already stripped Patroclus of Achilles' armor. Ajax's prayer to Zeus to remove the fog that has descended on the battle to allow them to fight or die in the light of day has become proverbial. According to
Hyginus, in total, Ajax killed 28 people at Troy. , showing the sacrifice of Trojan slaves. Ajax the Great is the second from the right
Death As the
Iliad comes to a close, Ajax and the majority of other Greek warriors are alive and well. When Achilles dies, killed by
Paris (with help from Apollo), Ajax and Odysseus are the heroes who fight against the Trojans to get the body and bury it with his companion, Patroclus. Ajax, with his great shield and spear, manages to recover the body and carry it to the ships, while Odysseus fights off the Trojans. After the burial, each claims Achilles' magical armor, which had been forged on
Mount Olympus by the smith-god
Hephaestus, for himself as recognition for his heroic efforts. A competition is held to determine who deserves the armor. Ajax argues that because of his strength and the fighting he has done for the Greeks, including saving the ships from Hector, and driving him off with a massive rock, he deserves this magical protection. However, Odysseus proves to be more eloquent, and with the aid of Athena, the council gives him the armor. Ajax, distraught by this result and "conquered by his own grief", plunges his sword into his own chest, killing himself. In the
Little Iliad, Ajax goes mad with rage at Odysseus' victory and slaughters the cattle of the Greeks. After returning to his senses, he kills himself out of shame. The
Belvedere Torso, a marble torso now in the Vatican Museums, is considered to depict Ajax "in the act of contemplating his
suicide". In
Sophocles' play
Ajax, a famous retelling of Ajax's demise, after the armor is awarded to Odysseus, Ajax feels so insulted that he wants to kill Agamemnon and Menelaus. Athena intervenes and clouds his mind and vision, and he goes to a flock of sheep and slaughters them, imagining they are the Achaean leaders, including Odysseus and Agamemnon. When he comes to his senses, covered in blood, he realizes that what he has done has diminished his honor, and decides that he prefers to kill himself rather than live in shame. He does so with the same sword which Hector gave him when they exchanged presents. From his blood sprang a red flower, as at the death of
Hyacinthus, which bore on its leaves the initial letters of his name
Ai, also expressive of lament. His ashes were deposited in a golden urn on the
Rhoetean promontory at the entrance of the
Hellespont. Ajax's half-brother Teucer stood trial before his father for not bringing Ajax's body or famous weapons back. Teucer was acquitted for responsibility but found guilty of negligence. He was disowned by his father and was not allowed to return to his home, the island of
Salamis off the coast of Athens. Homer is somewhat vague about the precise manner of Ajax's death but does ascribe it to his loss in the dispute over Achilles' armor; when Odysseus visits
Hades, he begs the soul of Ajax to speak to him, but Ajax, still resentful over the old quarrel, refuses and descends silently back into
Erebus. Like Achilles, he is represented (although not by Homer) as living after his death on the
island of Leuke at the mouth of the
Danube. Ajax, who in the post-Homeric legend is described as the grandson of Aeacus and the great-grandson of Zeus, was the
tutelary hero of the island of Salamis, where he had a temple and an image, and where a festival called
Aianteia was celebrated in his honour. At this festival a couch was set up, on which the
panoply of the hero was placed, a practice which recalls the Roman
Lectisternium. The identification of Ajax with the family of Aeacus was chiefly a matter which concerned the Athenians, after Salamis had come into their possession, on which occasion
Solon is said to have inserted a line in the
Iliad (2.557–558), for the purpose of supporting the Athenian claim to the island. Ajax then became an
Attic hero; he was worshipped at Athens, where he had a statue in the market-place, and the tribe
Aiantis was named after him. Pausanias also relates that a gigantic skeleton, its kneecap in diameter, appeared on the beach near
Sigeion, on the Trojan coast; these bones were identified as those of Ajax.
Gallery File:Akhilleus Aias MGEt 16757.jpg|
Achilles and Ajax Playing a Game. Black-figure vase painting by
Exekias, ca. 540 BCE. Currently in the Vatican Museum. File:Exekias Suicide d Ajax 01.jpg|
Suicide of Ajax. Black-figure vase painting by
Exekias, ca. 540 BCE. Currently in the Château-musée de
Boulogne-sur-Mer in France. File:Ajax suicide BM F480.jpg|The suicide of Ajax. Etruscan red-figured calyx-krater, ca. 400–350 BC. Currently in British Museum. File:(11) Flaxman Ilias 1795, Zeichnung 1793, 186 x 283 mm.jpg|Ajax battling
Hector, engraving by
John Flaxman, 1795 File:Achilles Ajax dice Louvre MNB911 n2.jpg|
Achilles and Ajax play a game of dice on this early 5th-century BC
lekythos, a type of oil-storing vessel associated with funeral rites File:Attic red-figure kylix by Brygos Painter, top - Getty Museum (86.AE.286).jpg|A
red-figure kylix with a depiction of the suicide of Ajax, attributed to the
Brygos Painter, ca. 490-480 BCE. Currently in the Getty Museum collection. ==Palace==