Cover of Ajax by Sophocles Ebook Ajax
Ebook · Sovereign

Ajax

Author
Sophocles
Series
Plays by Sophocles
Language
English
Length
70 pages
ISBN
9781910833957
Published
15 October 2015
Imprint
Sovereign
  • Ajax
  • Sophocles
  • Greek
  • tragedy
  • play
  • Greece
  • drama
  • mythology
  • history

Description

Ajax is enraged because Achilles' armor was awarded to Odysseus, rather than to him. He vows to kill the Greek leaders who disgraced him. Before he can enact his extraordinary revenge, though, he is tricked by the goddess Athena into believing that the sheep and cattle that were taken by the Achaeans as spoil are the Greek leaders. He slaughters some of them, and takes the others back to his home to torture, including a ram which he believes to be his main rival, Odysseus.

Author

Sophocles (c. 496–406 BCE) made Greek tragedy feel inevitable. Oedipus hunts a crime and finds himself; Antigone buries a brother and breaks a state. Gods, chorus, and human stubbornness share the stage without anyone being merely a symbol. Sophocles wrote into old age, refining a form he had helped perfect: fewer actors, tighter action, a moral intelligence that never lectures. Read him for the shock of a story that knows more than its hero.