Ajax
Great shield-bearing warrior whose shade still rejects Odysseus below.
Overview
This Ajax is the son of Telamon, not Ajax the Lesser who violates Cassandra during the sack. He is a principal Achaean fighter at Troy. Pseudo-Apollodorus says that after Achilles dies Ajax carries the body back through missiles while Odysseus fights the pursuers. The two then compete for Achilles' arms; the decision favours Odysseus and Ajax dies after humiliation and madness. In Odyssey Book 11 Odysseus admits that the outcome cost the Greeks a formidable warrior and asks for reconciliation. Ajax gives no answer and walks back among the shades, preserving a wound inside the coalition that neither victory nor eloquence can repair.
Key facts
The contest for Achilles' arms
Retrospective account in Odyssey Book 11In the Underworld Odysseus admits that the judgment over the arms cost the Greeks a formidable warrior.
Reconciliation refused in silence
Faced with Odysseus' apology and appeal, Ajax says nothing and returns among the shades.
Further spoiler details are available in the interactive atlas.
Relationships
- Trojan Warfights in
Ajax defends the Greek line behind his great shield.
- Descent to the Underworldappears in
Ajax refuses to answer Odysseus.
- Achillesrecovers the body
Ajax carries Achilles’ body back through a shower of missiles while Odysseus fights the pursuers.
- Odysseuscompetes for Achilles’ arms
Achilles’ arms ultimately go to Odysseus, leaving Ajax devastated by the outcome.
- Odysseusrefuses reconciliation
Ajax remains angry over the contest for Achilles’ arms and refuses to answer Odysseus.
Story appearances
- The Odyssey HomecomingUnreconciled shade
Ajax still refuses Odysseus over the contest for Achilles' armour.
- The Trojan WarAjax the Great holding the Achaean line
Serves in the coalition, recovers Achilles’ body and competes with Odysseus for the arms; he is not Ajax the Lesser of the sack tradition.
- Gates of the UnderworldHero still refusing reconciliation with Odysseus after death
Hero still refusing reconciliation with Odysseus after death, part of the Underworld story's crossings, losses, judgments or guarded spaces.
Ancient sources
MythWeave distinguishes ancient-source evidence from later adaptations and modern interpretation.
- Homer, Iliad, Books 1–24
- Homer, Odyssey, Books 1–24
- Homer, Odyssey, Book 24.1–14: Hermes leads the suitors’ shades to the asphodel meadow
- Homer, Odyssey, Book 11.385–567: Agamemnon, Achilles and Ajax
- Homer, Odyssey, Book 11: the Underworld, Tiresias and the shades
- Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, Epitome, E.5.3–7: Achilles’ death, recovery of his body and the awarding of his arms