Ajax the Lesser
mythological Greek character, son of Oileus
Ajax (Ancient Greek: Αἴας, romanized: Aíās) was a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris. He was called the "Ajax the Less", the "lesser" or "Locrian" Ajax, to distinguish him from Ajax the Great, son of Telamon. He was the leader of the Locrian contingent during the Trojan War. He is a significant figure in Homer's Iliad and is also mentioned in the Odyssey, in Virgil's Aeneid and in Euripides' The Trojan Women. In Etruscan legend, he was known as Aivas Vilates.
Description
In the account of Dares the Phrygian, Ajax was described as "stocky, powerfully built, swarthy, a pleasant person, and brave." Philostratus mentions that he had long hair, and had a pet snake "five cubits long, who drank with [him] and accompanied him, either leading the way or following him like a dog."
Mythology
Life
Ajax's mother's name was Eriopis. According to Strabo, he was born in Naryx in Locris, where Ovid calls him Narycius heros. According to the Iliad, he led his Locrians in forty ships against Troy. He is described as one of the great heroes among the Greeks. In battle, he wore a linen cuirass (λινοθώραξ, linothorax), was brave and intrepid, especially skilled in throwing the spear and, next to Achilles, the swiftest of all the Greeks.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ajax the Lesser” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.