Ajax

/ay"jaks/, n.

1. Also called Great Ajax, Telamonian Ajax. Class. Myth. a Greek hero in the Trojan War who rescued the body of Achilles and killed himself out of jealousy when Odysseus was awarded the armor of Achilles.

2. Also called Ajax the Lesser. Class. Myth. a Locrian king, noted for his fighting during the Trojan War, who was said to have been killed in a shipwreck as punishment for violating a shrine of Athena.

3. (italics) a tragedy (c440 B.C.) by Sophocles.

4. a town in S Ontario, in S Canada. 20,774.

Also, Aias (for defs. 1-3).

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Greek hero of the Trojan War.

In the Iliad Homer described him as of great stature and second only to Achilles in strength and bravery. He fought Hector in single combat and rescued the body of Achilles from the hands of the Trojans. When Achilles's armour was awarded to Odysseus, he was so enraged that he went mad. According to several Greek and Roman poets, Ajax slaughtered a flock of sheep he mistook for his enemies, then returned to his senses and killed himself out of shame.

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▪ the Greater

(Latin),  Greek  Aias,  byname  Ajax the Greater  

 in Greek legend, son of Telamon, king of Salamis, described in the Iliad as being of great stature and colossal frame, second only to the Greek hero Achilles in strength and bravery. He engaged Hector (the chief Trojan (Trojan War) warrior) in single combat and later, with the aid of the goddess Athena, rescued the body of Achilles from the hands of the Trojans. He competed with the Greek hero Odysseus for the armour of Achilles but lost, which so enraged him that it caused his death. According to a later story Ajax' disappointment drove him mad. On coming to his senses he slew himself with the sword that he had received as a present from Hector. The legend has it that from his blood sprang a red flower that bore on its leaves the initial letters of his name, AI, letters that are also expressive of lament. Ajax 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.

▪ the Lesser

(Latin),  Greek  Aias,  byname  Ajax the Lesser  

      in Greek legend, son of Oileus, king of Locris; he was said to be boastful, arrogant, and quarrelsome. For his crime of dragging King Priam's daughter Cassandra from the statue of the goddess Athena and violating her, he barely escaped being stoned to death by his Greek allies. Odysseus knew that Athena would be angry and advised the Greeks to put Ajax to death. When the Greeks were sailing away from Troy, the goddess, with the help of Poseidon, caused a tremendous storm. Ajax's ship was wrecked, but he swam to a rock and boasted to the gods of his escape. Then he was cast by Poseidon into the sea and drowned.

      Ajax was worshiped as a national hero by the Opuntian Locrians (who lived on the Malian Gulf in central Greece and on whose coins he appeared), who always left a vacant place for him in their battle line.

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