Αἴας
Ajax
Sophocles · Date unknown, probably the 440s BC
Cheated of Achilles’ arms, Ajax sets out to kill the Greek commanders, but Athena sends him mad and he slaughters the army’s cattle instead. Shamed, he kills himself.
Persons, in order of appearance
- Αθ.Athena
- Οδ.Odysseus
- Αι.Ajax
- Χο.Chorus
- Τε.Tecmessa
- Αγγ.Messenger
- ΑʹFirst Semichorus
- ΒʹSecond Semichorus
- Τευ.Teucer
- Με.Menelaus
- Αγα.Agamemnon
Translations
- R. C. Jebbprose · 1883–1900 · aligned by line · with Jebb's Greek
- F. Storrverse · 1913 · aligned by speech · with Storr's Greek
- Ian Johnston (VIU)verse · aligned by speech · with Dain & Mazon's Greek
Greek texts
- Dain & Mazon, Sophocle, vol. 21958
- F. Storr, Sophocles, vol. 21913
- R. C. Jebb, Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, part 7, The Ajax1896
Cite as Soph. Aj. 1–1420
Full synopsis (tells the ending)
The arms of the dead Achilles were awarded to Odysseus, not Ajax. In the night Ajax set out to kill the Greek commanders; Athena turned his mind, and he butchered the army's sheep and cattle instead. The play opens with Athena showing Odysseus the madman still exulting. When the fit lifts, Ajax faces what he has done, talks his wife Tecmessa and his sailors into leaving him alone, and falls on his sword. The second half is the fight over his body: Menelaus and Agamemnon forbid burial; Teucer defies them; Odysseus, his enemy, settles it.
Drawing: Line drawing after the 1847 plate of a black-figure amphora (Gerhard, Auserlesene griechische Vasenbilder III, Taf. CCXI-CCXII, 4); cut out and retraced.