Editing Ajax the Lesser

{{short description|Ancient Greek mythological hero}}
{{for|the Marvel Comics character Ajax the Lesser|List of Eternals}}
[[File:Ajax the Lesser, Son of Oileus, by Francesco Sabatelli 1829.png|thumb|Ajax the Lesser by Francesco Sabatelli, 1829]]
[[File:Pompeii - Casa del Menandro - Menelaos.jpg|thumb|Scene from the Trojan War: [[Cassandra]] clings to the [[Palladium (classical antiquity)|Palladium]], the wooden cult image of Athene, while Ajax the Lesser is about to drag her away in front of her father [[Priam]] (standing on the left). Fresco from the atrium of the Casa del Menandro (I 10, 4) in Pompeii.]]
[[File:Aiace-paint.jpg|thumb|''Ajax'', 1820 painting by [[Henri Serrur]]]]

'''Ajax''' ({{langx|grc|Αἴας}} ''Aias'' "of the earth"<ref>{{Cite book|last=[[Robert Graves|Graves, Robert]]|title=The Greek Myths – The Complete and Definitive Edition|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|year=2017|isbn=978-0241983386|pages=Index s.v., standardly derived from Greek αΐαζω, lament. Ajax, Great}}</ref>) was a [[Greek mythology|Greek mythological]] [[Greek hero cult|hero]], son of [[Oileus]], the king of [[Locris]].  He was called the "Ajax the Less", the "lesser" or "Locrian" Ajax,<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D2%3Acard%3D511 2.527]</ref> to distinguish him from [[Ajax the Great]], son of [[Telamon]]. He was the leader of the [[Locrians|Locrian]] contingent during the [[Trojan War]]. He is a significant figure in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and is also mentioned in the ''[[Odyssey]]'',<ref name="DGRBM">{{Citation  | last = Schmitz  | first = Leonhard  | contribution = Ajax (2)  | editor-last = Smith  | editor-first = William  | title = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]  | volume = 1  | pages = 87–88  | publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]]  | place = Boston  | year = 1867  | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0096.html  | access-date = 2008-06-09  | archive-date = 2013-10-20  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131020220720/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0096.html  | url-status = dead  }}</ref> in [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' and in [[Euripides]]' ''[[The Trojan Women]]''. In [[Etruscan mythology|Etruscan legend]], he was known as ''Aivas Vilates''.

== Description ==
In the account of [[Dares Phrygius|Dares the Phrygian]], Ajax was described as "stocky, powerfully built, swarthy, a pleasant person, and brave."<ref>[[Dares Phrygius]], ''History of the Fall of Troy'' [https://www.theoi.com/Text/DaresPhrygius.html 13]</ref>

== Mythology ==

=== Life ===
[[File:Attic red-figure cup with Ajax and Cassandra Louvre G 458.jpg|thumb|left|Ajax the Lesser and Cassandra]]
Ajax's mother's name was [[Eriopis]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=[[Tzetzes]]|first=John|title=Allegories of the Iliad|publisher=Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library|year=2015|isbn=978-0-674-96785-4|location=Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England|pages=41, Prologue 43–44|translator-last=Goldwyn|translator-first=Adam|translator-last2=Kokkini|translator-first2=Dimitra}}</ref> According to [[Strabo]], he was born in [[Naryx]] in [[Locris]],<ref>[[Strabo]], 9. p. 425</ref> where [[Ovid]] calls him ''Narycius heros''.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 14.468</ref>  According to the ''Iliad'',<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 2.527</ref> he led his [[Locrians]] in forty ships against [[Troy]].<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' 97 gives the number of ships as twenty</ref>  He is described as one of the great heroes among the Greeks. In battle, he wore a [[linen]] [[cuirass]] ({{lang|grc|λινοθώραξ}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|[[linothorax]]}}), was brave and intrepid, especially skilled in throwing the spear and, next to [[Achilles]], the swiftest of all the Greeks.<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 14.520 & 23.789</ref>{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The chronicler Malalas portrayed him as "tall, strong, tawny, squinting, good nose, curly hair, black hair, thick beard, long face, daring warrior, magnanimous, a womanizer."<ref>[[John Malalas|Malalas]], ''Chronography'' [https://topostext.org/work/793#5.104 5.104]</ref>

In the funeral games at the [[pyre]] of [[Patroclus]], Ajax contended with [[Odysseus]] and [[Antilochus of Pylos|Antilochus]] for the prize in the footrace; but [[Athena]], who was hostile towards him and favored Odysseus, made him stumble and fall, so that he won only the second prize.<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 23.754</ref>

In later traditions, this Ajax is called a son of Oileus and the [[nymph]] Rhene, and is also mentioned among the suitors of Helen.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 3.10.8; Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 81 & 97</ref> After the taking of Troy, he rushed into the temple of Athena, where [[Cassandra]] had taken refuge, and was embracing the statue of the goddess in [[supplication]]. Ajax violently dragged her away to the other captives.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''Tro.'' 70; [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' 2.403; Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 116; [[Dictys Cretensis]], 5.12</ref>  According to some writers, he raped Cassandra inside the temple.<ref>[[Tryphiodorus]], 635; [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], 13.422; [[Lycophron]], 360 with the [[Scholia|Scholion]]</ref> Odysseus called for Ajax's death by stoning for this crime, but Ajax saved himself by claiming innocence with an oath to Athena, clutching her statue in supplication.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 10.26.1 & 10.31.1</ref>

=== Death ===
Since Ajax dragged the supplicant from her temple, Athena had cause to be indignant. According to the ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'', no one was aware that Ajax had raped Cassandra until [[Calchas]], the Greek seer, warned the Greeks that Athena was furious at the treatment of her priestess and she would destroy the Greek ships if they did not kill him immediately. Despite this, Ajax managed to hide at the altar of a deity where the Greeks, fearing divine retribution should they kill him and destroy the altar, allowed him to live. When the Greeks left without killing Ajax, despite their sacrifices, Athena became so angry that she persuaded [[Zeus]] to send a storm that sank many of their ships.

[[File:Ajax slain by Poseidon - Bonaventura Genelli.png|thumb|Poseidon killing Ajax the Lesser, drawing by [[Bonaventura Genelli]]]]

As Ajax was [[Returns from Troy|returning from Troy]], Athena hit his ship with a thunderbolt and the vessel was wrecked on the Whirling Rocks ({{lang|grc|Γυραὶ πέτραι}}). But he escaped with some of his men, managing to cling onto a rock through the assistance of [[Poseidon]]. He would have been saved in spite of Athena, but he then audaciously declared that he would escape the dangers of the sea in defiance of the immortals. Offended by this presumption, Poseidon split the rock with his [[trident]] and Ajax was swallowed up by the sea.<ref>Homer, ''[[Odyssey]]'' 4.499</ref>{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} [[Thetis]] buried him when the corpse washed up on [[Mykonos]].<ref>Apollodore, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Trzaskoma, and Hygin. ''Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology'', Indianapolis: Hackett Pub., 2007. 84–85. "5.24–6.6."</ref> Other versions depict a different death for Ajax, showing him dying when on his voyage home. In these versions, when Ajax came to the Capharean Rocks on the coast of [[Euboea]], his ship was wrecked in a fierce storm, he himself was lifted up in a whirlwind and impaled with a flash of rapid fire from Athena in his chest, and his body thrust upon sharp rocks, which afterwards were called the rocks of Ajax.<ref name="ReferenceA">Virgil, ''Aeneid'' 1.40 & 11.260; Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 116</ref>

After Ajax's death, his spirit dwelt in the island of [[Leuce (island)|Leuce]].<ref name="paus319">Pausanias, 3.19.13</ref> The [[Opuntian Locris|Opuntian]] Locrians worshipped Ajax as their national hero, and so great was their faith in him that when they drew up their army in battle, they always left one place open for him, believing that, although invisible to them, he was fighting for and among them.<ref>[[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]], ''Narrations'' 18; Pausanias, 3.19.13</ref>  The story of Ajax was frequently made use of by ancient poets and artists, and the hero who appears on some Locrian coins with the helmet, shield, and sword is probably this Ajax.<ref>Théodore Edme Mionnet, No. 570, &c.</ref>

Other accounts of Ajax's death are offered by [[Philostratus]], [[Euripides]], and the [[scholiast]] on [[Lycophron]].<ref>[[Philostratus]], ''Her.'' 31.6–9; [[Euripides]], Tro. 90; [[Scholiast]] on [[Lycophron]]</ref>

==Art==
[[File:Solomon Ajax and Cassandra.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Ajax and Cassandra]]'' by [[Solomon Joseph Solomon]] (1886)<ref name="tiscali">{{cite web|url=http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speel//paint/solomons.htm|title=Solomon Joseph Solomon RA PRBA (1860–1927)|date=2007-05-17|access-date=2015-10-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001430/http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speel//paint/solomons.htm|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>]]

The abduction of Cassandra by Ajax was frequently represented in [[Art in ancient Greece|Greek]] works of art, such as the chest of [[Cypselus]] described by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] and in extant works.<ref>Pausanias, 5.17</ref>{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==

* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. {{ISBN|0-674-99135-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
* [[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]]'', Fifty Narrations, surviving as one-paragraph summaries in the Bibliotheca (Library) of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople'' translated from the Greek by Brady Kiesling. [https://topostext.org/work/489 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
*[[Dictys Cretensis]]'', from The Trojan War.'' ''The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and [[Dares Phrygius|Dares the Phrygian]]'' translated by Richard McIlwaine Frazer Jr.  Indiana University Press. 1966. [https://topostext.org/work/152 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[Robert Graves|Graves, Robert]], ''The Greek Myths'', Harmondsworth, London, England, Penguin Books, 1960. {{ISBN|978-0143106715}}
* Graves, Robert, ''The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition.'' Penguin Books Limited. 2017. {{ISBN|978-0-241-98338-6}}
* [[Homer]], [[Iliad|''The Iliad'']] with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. {{ISBN|978-0674995796|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Homer, ''Homeri Opera'' in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. {{ISBN|978-0198145318|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0133 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Homer, [[Odyssey|''The Odyssey'']] with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. {{ISBN|978-0674995611|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0135 Greek text available from the same website].
*[[Lycophron]], ''The Alexandra''  translated by Alexander William Mair. Loeb Classical Library Volume 129. London: William Heinemann, 1921. [https://topostext.org/work/128 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
*Lycophron, ''Alexandra'' translated by A.W. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0484 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.  [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[Ovid|Publius Ovidius Naso]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' translated by Brookes More. Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0029 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[Virgil|Publius Vergilius Maro]], ''[[Aeneid]].'' Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*Publius Vergilius Maro, ''Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics''. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''[[Posthomerica|The Fall of Troy]]'' translated by Way. A. S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 19. London: William Heinemann, 1913. [http://www.theoi.com/Text/QuintusSmyrnaeus1.html Online version at theio.com]
*Quintus Smyrnaeus, ''The Fall of Troy''. Arthur S. Way. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1913. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0490 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica|The Geography of Strabo]].'' Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*Strabo, ''Geographica'' edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0197 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*[[Tryphiodorus]], ''Capture of Troy'' translated by Mair, A. W. Loeb Classical Library Volume 219. London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1928. [http://www.theoi.com/Text/Tryphiodorus.html Online version at theoi.com]
*Tryphiodorus, ''Capture of Troy'' with an English Translation by A.W. Mair. London, William Heinemann, Ltd.; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1928. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0491 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes, John]], ''Allegories of the Iliad'' translated by Goldwyn, Adam J. and Kokkini, Dimitra. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, Harvard University Press, 2015. {{ISBN|978-0-674-96785-4}}

{{SmithDGRBM|title= Ajax (2)}}

{{EB1911|wstitle=Ajax (son of Oileus)|display=Ajax|volume=1|page=452}}

==External links==
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{{Characters in the Iliad}}
{{Aeneid}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajax The Lesser}}
[[Category:Suitors of Helen]]
[[Category:Achaean Leaders]]
[[Category:Mythological rapists]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Characters in the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Locrians]]
[[Category:Deeds of Poseidon]]
[[Category:Greek mythological heroes]]
[[Category:Cassandra]]