Ajax

This article is about the son of Telamon. For other uses, see Ajax.

Ajax's skeleton in his tomb

Ajax was a legendary hero, the son of Telamon, and a participant in the Trojan War in Greek mythology. He died by his own hand at the end of the war.

After his death, Ajax was buried in a tomb located on the Isle of Salamis. He also had a sanctuary dedicated to him on the island which, by the 5th century BCE, had been rendered a ruin, and bandits had set up camp there.

Influence and legacy

During the Peloponnesian War, the Spartan misthios Kassandra visited Ajax's sanctuary in search of a treasure buried there by the Athenian general Themistokles. Around the same time, she also visited Ajax's tomb and recovered Ajax's golden feather which had ended up in the possession of some bandits camped at the tomb entrance.

Behind the scenes

Ajax is a mythical figure and a minor character in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, where his place of death deviated from the classic myth. Attested to in Sophokles' play Ajax and Homer's Iliad, Ajax's body was never brought back to Salamis from Troy and 2nd century geographer Pausanias would later attribute a giant skeleton found near Sigeion to that of the Greek hero. Ajax's tomb would also be associated with the ancient Greek city of Rhoiteion.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (appears as a corpse only)