AJAWA, ei-jiiNt. A Bantu tribe of Portu guese East Africa, described by Livingstone. They have acquired some culture from contact with the Arabs. Cannibalism still exists among them, and at the funeral of a chief women are sacrificed; though they are accounted intelli gent, industrious, and enterprising, a manly and independent tribe of blacks superior to others in this region.
AJAX (Lat. form of the Gk. Aire:, Aias). The•name of two of the Greek heroes of the Tro jan War. One of them was called Ajax the Less, or the Loerian, being the son of 011eas, King of the Locrians. At the head of forty Loerian ships he sailed against Troy, and was one of the brav est of the Greek heroes; in swiftness of foot he excelled all except Achilles. When Cassandra fled to the temple of Athena, after the taking of Troy; it is said that Ajax tore her from it by force and dragged her away captive. Others make him even violate the prophetess in the temple. Though he exeulpated himself by an
oath when accused of this crime by Ulysses, yet be did not escape the vengeance of the goddess, who caused him to be engulfed in the waves on his voyage toward Greece.
The other Ajax, called by the Greeks the Greater, was the son of Telnuion, King of Sala mis, and grandson of _Focus. He sailed against Troy with twelve ships, and is represented by Homer as, next to Achilles, the bravest and handsomest of the Greeks. After the death of Achilles, Ajax and Ulysses contended for the arms of the hero, and when the prize was ad judged to Ulysses, Ajax in a fit of insanity slew the Grecian flocks, fancying he was slaying his enemies. On recovering his reason he threw himself on his sword. Sophoeles, in the tragedy of Ajax, attributes his madness to the wrath of Athena. See TROJAN WAR.