Aias (Greek: Αἴᾱς), or Ajax, king of Salamis, a legendary hero of ancient Greece. To distinguish him from Aias, son of Oileus, he was called Aias the Great or Telamonian Aias. In Homer's Iliad he is described as of great stature and colossal frame, second only to his cousin Achilles in strength and bravery, and the 'bulwark of the Achaeans'. He was trained by the centaur Chiron (who had also trained his father, Telamon, and Achilles' father Peleus), at the same time as Achilles was. Outshone only by his cousin, Ajax was the most valuable king in the battlefield, though not as smart as Nestor, Idomeneus, or, of course, Odysseus. He commanded his army wielding a great axe and a huge shield made of seven ox-hides with a layer of bronze. He was indeed a great asset to king Agamemnon's army. He 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 personal assistance from any of the gods who take part in the battles. As such, he embodies the virtues of hard work and perseverance. He was half-brother to Teucer. The Greek island of Salamis (Greek, Modern: Σαλάμινα Salamina, Ancient/Katharevousa: ) is the largest island in the Saronic Gulf, about 1 nautical mile (2 km) off-coast from Piraeus. ... Jump to: navigation, search Sir Galahad, a hero of Arthurian legend In mythology and folklore, a hero (male) or heroine (female) is an eminent character who quintessentially embodies key traits valued by its originating culture. ... Ajax (Greek: A as), a Greek hero, son of Oileus the king of Locris, called the lesser or Locrian Ajax, to distinguish him from Ajax, son of Telamon. ... Jump to: navigation, search Bust of Homer in the British Museum For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... Jump to: navigation, search The Iliad (Greek Ιλιάς, Ilias) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Achilles (disambiguation). ... In Greek mythology, Chiron (hand) — sometimes spelled Cheiron — was held as the superlative centaur over his brethren. ... Son of Aeacus, King of Aegina and Endeis and brother of Peleus, Telamon accompanied Jason as one his Argonauts, and was present at the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. ... In Greek mythology, Pēleús (Greek: Πηλεύς) was the son of Aeacus, King of Aegina. ... The word may have one of the following meanings. ... In Greek mythology, Idomeneus was a Cretan warrior, grandson of Minos. ... Jump to: navigation, search Odysseus and the Sirens. ... Jump to: navigation, search The so-called Mask of Agamemnon. Discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at Mycenae. ... Jump to: navigation, search Two figures in Greek mythology had the name Teucer: The son of Hesione and Telamon, Teucer fought with his half-brother, Ajax the Great, in the Trojan War and is the legendary founder of the city Salamis on Cyprus. ...

Trojan War

During the Iliad, Ajax is notable for his strength and courage, which he displays in abundance, particularly in two fights with Hector. In Book VII, 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 fights on until the heralds, acting at the direction of Zeus, call a draw: the action ends without a winner and with the two combatants exchanging presents. Jump to: navigation, search The Iliad (Greek Ιλιάς, Ilias) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... Jump to: navigation, search In Greek mythology, Hector (holding fast), or Hektor, was a Trojan prince and one of the greatest fighters in the Trojan War, equal to Ajax and surpassed only by Achilles. ... A herald was originally a messenger sent by a king or nobleman to convey a message or proclamation. ... Jump to: navigation, search Statue of Zeus Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th-century engraving. ...

In Book IX, Agamemnon and the other Greek chiefs send Ajax, accompanied by 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. Jump to: navigation, search The so-called Mask of Agamemnon. Discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at Mycenae. ... In the Greek epic Iliad, Phoenix is one of Achilles men, who along with Odysseus and Ajax the Great urges Achilles to re-enter battle, giving the most passionate speech of the three. ...

The Greek hero Ajax wields his spear in defense of Greek ships as Trojan warriors try to set the wooden vessels on fire with their torches.

The second fight between Ajax and Hector occurs when the latter breaks into the Achaean camp, and fights with the Greeks among the ships. In Book XIV, Ajax throws a giant rock at Hector which almost kills him. In Book XV, Hector is restored to his strength by Apollo and returns to attack the ships. Ajax, wielding a spear as a weapon and leaping from ship to ship, holds off the Trojan armies virtually single-handedly. In Book XVI, Hector is able to disarm Ajax (although Ajax is not hurt) and Ajax is forced to retreat under heavy fire. Hector and the Trojans succeed in burning one Greek ship, the culmination of an assault that almost finishes the war. Image File history File links Ajax_defends_greek_ships. ... Image File history File links Ajax_defends_greek_ships. ... This article is about the ancient people of the Achaeans. ... Jump to: navigation, search Apollo (Greek: Απόλλων, Apóllōn; Απελλων) is a god in Greek and Roman mythology, the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Artemis (goddess of the hunt), one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian divinities. ... A citizen of the city of Troy (Ilium) as described by Homer. ...

All of the foregoing encounters happened when Achilles was not on the battlefield, because he was angered with Agamemnon. Ajax did manage to kill many of the other Trojan lords, including Phorkys. In Greek mythology, Phorcys, or Phorkys was a primevil sea god, son of Pontus and Gaia. ...

When Patroklos dies, the Trojans try to steal his body and feed him to the dogs, accusing him of being a liar. Ajax is the man who fights to protect the body, and take it back safely to the camp, back to Achilles, the best friend and lover of Patroklos. Ajax, assisted by Menelaus, succeeds in fighting off the Trojans and taking the body back with his chariot; of course, the Trojans had already stolen the armor and left the body naked. Ajax's prayer to Zeus, to remove the fog which has descended on the battle - even if the Greeks are destined to lose - to allow them to die in the light, has become proverbial. In Greek mythology, Patroclus, or Pátroklos (gr. ... Menelaus (also transliterated as Meneláos), in Greek mythology, was a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope. ...

Like most of the other Greek leaders, Ajax is alive and well as the Iliad comes to a close.

Later, when Achilles dies, killed by Paris, Ajax and Odysseus are the heroes that fight against the Trojans to get the body and bury it next to his lover, Patroklos. Ajax, with his great axe, manages to get the Trojans away, while Odysseus pulls the body towards his chariot, and rides away. After the burial, both claim the armor for themselves, as recognition for their efforts. But in the end, after some discussion, Odysseus is given the armor. Ajax is furious about it, and falls to the ground, exhausted. When he wakes up, he becomes mad and goes to a group of sheep, and slaughters them, imagining they are the Trojan leaders, as well as Odysseus and Agamemnon. When he comes to his senses, covered in blood, and realises what he did, he decides that he prefers to kill himself rather than to live in shame. He did it with the same sword Hector had given him when they exchanged presents. (Odyssey, XI. 541). 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 (Pausanias I. 35.4). His ashes were deposited in a golden urn on the Rhoetean promontory at the entrance of the Hellespont. Paris (Greek: Πάρις; also known as Alexander or Alexandros, c. ... Jump to: navigation, search Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre The Odyssey (Greek Ὀδυσσεία) is the second of the two great Greek epic poems ascribed to Homer, the first of which is the Iliad. ... The Death of Hyacinthos by Jean Broc. ... Pausanias was Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ... Hellespont (i. ...

The foregoing account of his death is from the Ajax of Sophocles; in Pindar's "Nemea", 7; and in Ovid, Metamorphoses, xiii. 1. Homer is somewhat vague about the precise manner of Ajax's death but does ascribe it to his loss in the dispute over Achilles's armour: 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. Jump to: navigation, search A Roman bust of Sophocles. ... Jump to: navigation, search Pindar (or Pindarus) (522 BC – 443 BC), objectively the greatest lyric poet of ancient Greece, was born at Cynoscephalae, a village in Thebes. ... Nemea is an ancient site near the head of the valley of the Nemea River in the Peloponnessus of Greece. ... Jump to: navigation, search Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC â€“ Tomis, now Constanta AD 17) Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women, and mythological transformations. ... Cover of George Sandyss 1632 edition of The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a poem in 15 books that describes the creation and history of the world in terms of Greek and Roman mythology. ... Jump to: navigation, search Hades (Greek: - HadÄ“s or - HáidÄ“s) (unseen) means both the ancient Greek abode of the dead and the god of that underworld. ... In Greek mythology, Erebus, or Érebos was a primordial god, personification of darkness, offspring of Chaos alone. ...

Like Achilles, he is represented (although not by Homer) as living after his death in the island of Leuke at the mouth of the Danube (Pausanias iii. 19. 11). 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 (Pausanias i. 35). 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 (II. 557 or 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. Jump to: navigation, search Map of Snake Island Snake Island (Romanian: Insula şerpilor, Ukrainian: ostriv Zmiyinyy) - also known as Serpent Island - is an isle in the Black Sea, currently claimed by Romania, but administered by Ukraine and included in its Kiliya raion of Odeska oblast. // Geography The island is... Jump to: navigation, search The Danube (Donau in German; Dunaj in Slovak; Donava in Slovene; Duna in Hungarian; Dunav in Croatian and Serbian; Dunav or Дунав in Bulgarian; Dunăre in Romanian; Дунай (Dunay) in Ukrainian; Danuvius in Latin) is Europes second-longest river (after the Volga). ... Pausanias was Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ... In Greek mythology, Aeacus, or Aiakos (bewailing or earth borne) was king in the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf and was so far-famed for the righteous sense of piety and justice with which he ruled over his people that his judgment was sought all over Hellas, so... Jump to: navigation, search Statue of Zeus Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th-century engraving. ... A tutelary spirit is a god, usually a minor god, who serves as the guardian or watcher over a particular site, person, or nation. ... Salamis Island is the name of an island in the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, near Athens, Greece, where the Battle of Salamis was fought in 480 B.C.. Salamis, Cyprus is an ancient city on the east coast of Cyprus. ... Jump to: navigation, search Lectisternium (from Lat. ... For other uses, see Athens (disambiguation). ... Solon Solon (Greek: Σόλων, ca. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Iliad (Greek Ιλιάς, Ilias) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Acropolis in central Athens, one of the most important landmarks in world history. ...

Lineage

Ajax is the son of Telamon, who was the son of Aeacus, son of Zeus. He is the cousin of Achilles, the most remembered Greek warrior. Many illustrious Athenians -- Cimon, Miltiades, Alcibiades, the historian Thucydides -- traced their descent from Ajax. Son of Aeacus, King of Aegina and Endeis and brother of Peleus, Telamon accompanied Jason as one his Argonauts, and was present at the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. ... In Greek mythology, Aeacus, or Aiakos (bewailing or earth borne) was king in the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf and was so far-famed for the righteous sense of piety and justice with which he ruled over his people that his judgment was sought all over Hellas, so... Jump to: navigation, search Statue of Zeus Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th-century engraving. ... This article or section should include material fromKimon Cimon (died 450 BC?) was a major figure of the 470s BC and 460s BC in Athens, and the son of Miltiades. ... Miltiades Miltiades (c. ... Alcibiades Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides (ancient Greek: ΑΛΚΙΒΙΑΔΗΣ ÎšÎ›Î•Î™ÎÎ™ÎŸÎ¥ ΣΚΑΜΒΩΝΙΔΗΣ)¹ (c. ... Bust of Thucydides Thucydides (between 460 and 455 BC–circa 400 BC, Greek Θουκυδίδης, Thoukudídês) was an ancient Greek historian, and the author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens. ...

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Ajax

• Homer. Iliad VII, 181-312; Homer. Odyssey XI, 543-67; Apollodorus. Epitome III, 11-V, 7; Ovid. Metamorphoses XII, 620-XIII, 398.
• The laundry detergent brand Ajax's slogan is "Stronger than dirt", presumably in the mythological reference.
• HMS Ajax (part of the UK Royal Navy) was named after him, but is no longer in use
• The USS Ajax was named for his valor
• Ajax appears as one of the main characters in the computer game Age of Mythology

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain. Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... Jump to: navigation, search Bust of Homer in the British Museum For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... Jump to: navigation, search The Iliad (Greek Ιλιάς, Ilias) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... Jump to: navigation, search Bust of Homer in the British Museum For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... Jump to: navigation, search Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre The Odyssey (Greek Ὀδυσσεία) is the second of the two great Greek epic poems ascribed to Homer, the first of which is the Iliad. ... Apollodorus was a popular name in the ancient world. ... Jump to: navigation, search Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC â€“ Tomis, now Constanta AD 17) Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women, and mythological transformations. ... Cover of George Sandyss 1632 edition of The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a poem in 15 books that describes the creation and history of the world in terms of Greek and Roman mythology. ... Jump to: navigation, search A detergent is a compound, or a mixture of compounds, intended to assist cleaning. ... Eight ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Ajax after the Greek hero Ajax the Great: The first Ajax, launched in 1765, was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line broken up and sold in 1785. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... Several ships of United States Navy were named USS Ajax: USS Ajax (1864) USS Ajax (1898) USS Ajax (1917) USS Ajax (AR-6) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... Jump to: navigation, search Age of Mythology (sometimes abbreviated AoM) is a real-time strategy computer game in the Age of Empires series by Ensemble Studios. ... Jump to: navigation, search Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...