Ajax the Great facts for kids

Ajax

Ajax the Great or Aias (ancient Greek: Αἴας) son of Telamon, was a well-known hero from the Trojan War. He was the cousin of Achilles.

Ajax is portrayed as a warrior of great courage in Homer's Iliad, being second only to Achilles among Greek heroes of the war.

Description

Ajax battling Hector, engraving by John Flaxman, 1795

In Homer's Iliad he is 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.

Ajax often fought in tandem with his brother Teucer, known for his skill with the bow.

Death

The Argument between Ajax and Odysseus over Achilles' armour, by Agostino Masucci

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 the armor. 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.

Related pages

• Ajax the Lesser

Images for kids

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  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

See also

In Spanish: Áyax el Grande para niños