AJAX, son Of Telamon, king of Cyprus, a legendary hero of
ancient Greece. To distinguish him from Ajax, son of Oileus,
he was called the "great" or Telamonian Ajax. In Homer's
Iliad he is described as of great stature and colossal
frame, second only to Achilles in strength and bravery, and
the "bulwark of the Achaeans.', He engaged Hector in single
combat and, with the aid of Athene, rescued the body of Achilles
from the hands of the Trojans. In the competition between
him and Odysseus for the armour of Achilles, Agamemnon, at
the instigation of Athene, awarded the prize to Odysseus.
This so enraged AJax that it caused his death (Odyssey, xi.
541). According to a later and more definite story, his
disappointment drove him mad; he rushed out of his tent and
fell upon the flocks of sheep in the camp under the impression
that they were the enemy on coming to his senses, he slew
himself with the sword which he had received as a present from
Hector. This is the account of his death given in the Ajax
of Sophocles (Pindar, Nemea, 7; Ovid, Met. xiii. 1). From
his blood sprang a red flower, as at the death of Hyacinthus,
which bore on its leaves the initial letters of his name
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed
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