AJAX (I.) the Greater Gr. Mas, son of Telamon, king of Salamis. In Homer's Iliad he is described as of great stature and colossal frame, second only to Achilles in strength and bravery. 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, accepted by Sophocles as the basis of his drama, his dis appointment 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 Greeks; on coming to his senses he slew himself with the sword which he had received as a present from Hector. From his blood sprang a red flower (see HYACINTHUS) which bore on its leaves the initial letters of his name AI, also expressive of lament (Pausanias 35. 4.)• He was the tutelary hero of the island of Salamis, where he had a temple and an image, and where a festival called Aianteia was celebrated in his honour (Pausanias 35)• II., the Lesser, son of Oileus, king of Locris, called the "lesser" or Locrian Ajax, to distinguish him from the son of Telamon. In spite of his small stature, he held his own amongst the other heroes before Troy; he was brave, next to Achilles in swif tness of foot, and famous for throwing the spear. But he was boastful, arrogant, and quarrelsome. Athena wrecked his ship on his home ward voyage (Odyssey, iv. 499), presumably for his crime (not definitely mentioned by Homer) in dragging Cassandra from the statue of the goddess, during the sack of Troy, and violating her. This led to the thousand years' penance of his people; neverthe less, he was worshipped as a national hero by the Opuntian Locrians (on whose coins he appeared), who always left a vacant place for him in their battle line.
See articles in Roscher's Lexikon and Realencyklo padie; L. R. Farnell, Hero-Cults, pp. 293 et seq. and 305 et seq.