Telamonian Ajax provides a complete overview of the development of Telamonian Ajax's myth in archaic and classical Greece. It is a systematic study of the representations of the hero in all kinds of media, such as literature, art, or cultic practice, establishing how and why the constitutive
elements of Ajax's myth evolved by examining the way the literary works and visual representations in which he features were influenced by the historical, socio-cultural, and performative contexts of their receptions. Bocksberger's study focuses on three main loci of reception: the Panhellenic
figure of Ajax, through a study of early Greek hexameter poetry and archaic art; archaic and classical Aegina; and archaic and classical Athens. By following in the footsteps of Ajax, this study offers a journey across the archaic and classical history of the Saronic Gulf, and exemplifies the manner
in which the respective priorities of art, cult, and politics could be negotiated through the re-configuration of a mythological figure. This book establishes the outline of Telamonian Ajax's pre-Homeric gesta in order to understand how it was received in early Greek hexameter poetry, especially in
the Iliad. Moreover, it investigates the important political role the hero had in the context of Atheno-Aeginetan rivalry in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE in order to show the profound impact the historical context had on the shaping of his myth.
Author(s): Sophie Marianne Bocksberger
Series: Oxford Classical Monographs
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 304
City: Oxford
Cover
Telamonian Ajax: The Myth in Archaic and Classical Greece
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Figures
List of Maps
Abbreviations of Modern Reference Works
Editions and Abbreviations of Ancient Authors and Works
Note on Translation and Transliteration
Note on the Images
Introduction
1; Ajax from Salamis
The Formation of the Epic Tradition: Some Assumptions
Mycenaean Substratum
Ancient Salamis
A Mycenaean Hero?
Αἴαντε
Ἑπταβόειον σάκος
Defining Features of Ajax’s Gesta in Early Hexameter Poetry
The Genealogy of Ajax
An Invulnerable Hero
τὸ ἕρκος Ἀχαιῶν
Ajax and Athena
Κρίσις, Anger, and Madness: The Suicide of Ajax
Unus pro Omnibus, Omnes pro Uno: One or Two Ajaxes?
Conclusion
2: Ajax in Aegina
Introduction
Some Elements of Aeginetan History
The Figure of Ajax in Poems for Aeginetan Patrons
Ajax in Aegina at the Time of the Persian Wars (490–Early 470s)
Ajax in Aegina in the Decade Following Marathon
Bacchylides’ Ode 13
Isthmian 6
Ajax in Aegina at the Time of Salamis and Its Aftermath
Isthmian 5
Nemean 7
Isthmian 4
Ajax in Aegina in the Early Years of the Pente contaetia: Early 470s–457
Nemean 4
Nemean 3, Nemean 6, and Olympian 8
Ajax in Aegina after Its Subjugation in 457
Pythian 8
Nemean 8
Conclusion
3: Ajax in Athens
Introduction
Ajax in Archaic Athens
Ajax’s Entries in Epic Catalogues
Ajax on Attic Pots from the Archaic Period
Conclusion
Ajax in Athens during the First Half of the Fifth Century
Ajax in Democratic Athens
The Tribe Aiantis
The Philaidae and the Persian Wars
The Ὅπλων Κρίσις on Pots
Aeschylean Ajax
The Award of the Arms
The Thracian Women
Women of Salamis
The Ajax Tetralogy
Conclusion
Ajax in Athens from the 450s to the End of the Classical Period
Sophoclean Ajax
Epic Subtext: The Self-Sufficient Hero (1)
The Blameless (2) or Failed (3) Hero
Conclusion
Concluding Remarks
The Single-Minded Hero
The Ajax Theme
Self-Reliance and Impiety
Ἀλκή and Δαίς
Splendour and Agony
Ἁπλότης
Epilogue
Appendix: Translations of Epigraphs
References
Index of Greek Words
Index inscriptionum
Index Locorum
General Index
