Description

Ajax, a proud war hero, plots revenge when a coveted honor is bestowed on another soldier in Sophocles’s ca. 440 B.C. drama Ajax. As the play begins, the great warrior Odysseus has been given Achilles’s armor after his death in the Trojan War. Ajax is enraged, sure that he has been purposefully snubbed by Grecian leaders. The indignant soldier prepares to kill all those involved in the decision. The goddess Athena, however, intervenes, convincing Ajax that his enemies have been transformed into a herd of livestock. Ajax takes Athena’s word as truth and slaughters several of the animals. It is only after this foolish deed that Ajax realizes his mistake. This ancient Greek drama comes to a striking conclusion as Ajax makes a final grim resolution and we witness the tragic undoing of a warrior whose all-consuming pride proves too much to bear.

About the Author

Sophocles (ca. 496-406 B.C.) was born in Attica, Greece, to a wealthy family. His stellar education and social prominence perhaps led to his becoming a pillar of his community throughout his life. Sophocles played key roles in many of Athens’s governing bodies, whether political, military, or financial. He made a name for himself as a dramatist in 468 B.C., when he famously won the Dionysia drama competition. This honor was no small accomplishment, as Sophocles beat out Aeschylus, who had for some time been considered Athens’s greatest playwright. Sophocles went on to write many plays in his long lifetime, and several of them survive today. He is best known for his Oedipus cycle, which includes Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonnus, as well as for his other dramas Electra, Philoctetes, and Ajax. Many of Sophocles’s works deal with the painful human dilemmas that even the greatest of leaders must face. To this day, Sophocles is considered one of the founding fathers of Western drama, with his plays enjoying thousands of years on the stage in performances around the world.

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Opening Lines (Experimental)

ATHENA.
ODYSSEUS.
TECMESSA.
MENELAUS.
AGAMEMNON.
SCENE. Before the encampment of Ajax on the shore of the Troad.
Afterwards a lonely place beyond Rhoeteum.
Time, towards the end of the Trojan War.
ATHENA (_above_). ODYSSEUS.
Hath led thee forth, like some keen hound of Sparta!
And slaughterous ...