What was ajax

As a warrior, Ajax was second only to Achilles, and the two men were close friends. A painting on a Greek jar shows Ajax and Achilles playing dice, perhaps during a lull between battles. The Death of Ajax. The armor led to a dispute between Ajax and Odysseus. Both heroes felt entitled to it.

To settle the matter, the Greeks decided to take a vote, and they awarded the armor to Odysseus. Enraged by this decision, Ajax planned an assault on the Greek troops that night. However, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, drove Ajax temporarily insane, and he attacked a flock of sheep instead. After recovering his senses, he was so ashamed that he killed himself with the sword Hector had given him. A second Ajax also fought for the Greeks in the Trojan War. He was a small man known as Ajax the Lesser.

Despite his size, this Ajax fought bravely and was known for his skill with a spear and his swiftness. After the Greek victory over the Trojans, Ajax the Lesser dragged Cassandra, the daughter of King Priam of Troy, away from the temple of the goddess Athena and assaulted her.

As punishment, Athena caused Ajax and his fleet to be shipwrecked on their voyage home from the war. The sea god Poseidon rescued him, but then when Ajax boasted that he had escaped death against the will of the gods, Poseidon became angry and drowned him.

According to tradition, a hyacinth flower grew where Ajax's blood fell on the ground. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: Folklore and Mythology. Enter your search terms:. Aias, in Greek mythology. Try it Yourself ». AJAX is a misleading name. AJAX allows web pages to be updated asynchronously by exchanging data with a web server behind the scenes.

This means that it is possible to update parts of a web page, without reloading the whole page. We just launched W3Schools videos.