History of Ajax

[Harley]

I found some mythological history on Ajax, forgive me if this is a little long:

There were two heroes named Ajax in the Greek legends. To differentiate them they are often referred to as the Great and the Lesser Ajax; both served in the Trojan War but the former was the greater and more pleasant character.
Ajax the Lesser was the son of Oileus, king of Locris. He was unpleasant in his manners and irreligious in his attitudes. The night Troy fell he pursued Cassandra to where she had taken sanctuary in the temple of Athena, clasping the same statue. Ajax carried both her and the statue off and then raped the girl. Athena sought revenge for the impiety and destroyed his ship on the way home, but Ajax swam to a rock and boasted that he was safe despite the gods. This was too much for them and particularly for Poseidon, who smashed with his trident the rock which Ajax clung and he was drowned. His impiety lived on after him when epidemics broke out in Locris and there were bad harvests. An oracle said that these misfortunes were the result of Athena's continuing anger at the rape of Cassandra and violation of her santuary. The Locrians were then told to send a pair of girls, chosen by lot, to Troy each year for a thousand years. This was done; the first two were killed by the Trojans but subsequent victims, if they could escape the mob, spent the rest of their days, unmarried, in Athena's santuary.
Ajax the Greater was the son of Telamon, king of Salamis. After Achilles, he was the bravest of the Greeks. Totally different from the Lesser Ajax, he was noted for his courtesy, piety and good character. Several times he fought against Hector, but the gods had decreed that Hector would only fall to Achilles and so each time that Hector began to worsted the gods rescued him. Ajax was noted for having taken numerous towns on the coast of Asia Minor.
At the fall of Troy Ajax suffered a series of setbacks. He demanded that Helen be put to death for her adultery, but the brothers Agamemnon and Menelaus were incensed at this and Odysseus secured her return to Menelaus. Next, Ajax demanded the Palladium as his share of the spoils. This was the statue od Pallas upon which Troy's preservation depended and which Odysseus and Diomedes had stolen. Once again he was thwarted by Agamemnin and Menelaus, who had to surround themselves with armed guards for protection against him. Another account tells how Ajax coveted the arms of Achilles which, after his death, were to go to the Greeks who had most frightened the Trojans. A poll was conducted amongst the Trojans prisoners and they, out of pique, named Odyesseus, who duly received Achille's armor. That night Ajax, in a fit of madness, killed the entire flock of sheep intended to feed the Greeks, imagining it to be his enemies. In the morning, realizing the lengths to which he had been driven, he fell on his sword and committed suicide.

I often think that the face of Ajax's belt buckle in the movie is to represent the mythological meaning of his name, since it looks like an old mesopotamian mask, or something out of greek legend. [/i]

[The Rogue]

ya he was a greek warrior. he was very big and he killed himself on the battle field cause he was tired of fighting. ajax in the warriors has that as a nickname cause hes big just like the real ajax (exepet hes nowere near 7'0 tall). if you want to see a preety good action movie that has ajax wasting a few people go pick up troy.

ps: he gets killed in the movie instead of suicide, just the directors way to make it a little more interesting

[MESTIZO69]

Too cool and too interesting..right on for the insight and history..Word

[Lion]

Wow this info was cool Har, I wish they would make the Warriors based on ancient history.

[triscender]

painting of the greek warrior ajax

http://cgi.ebay.com/GREEK-WARRIOR-AJAX- ... 518f9faeb6

[4nik8]

quick! somebody photoshop a vest on him!



mebbe some pants too...

[GrandTheftAaron]

complete with fingerless gloves!!
http://s882.photobucket.com/albums/ac23 ... g&newest=1

[Space Toaster]

A vest and gloves, but no pants. Well...it IS Ajax we're talking about here. All mouth and no trousers.

[union_jack]

hahahaha kudos all round 

[4nik8]

crap! in much the same way that tri can't see photobucket stuff at work, I'm administratively blocked here re: facebook stuff