Son of Telamon, king of Salamis, and Periboea daughter of Alcathus; named Aias when, at Heracles' prayer for a man-child, an eagle appeared as a sign. He led the Salaminians to Troy and stood as the bulwark of the Achaeans — the mightiest warrior in the host while Achilles nursed his wrath.1
Telamon held the kingship of Salamis, and by Periboea, daughter of Alcathus son of Pelops, he begat a son. Apollodorus tells the naming: Heracles had prayed that his friend might have a male child, and when an eagle — aietos — appeared after the prayer, Telamon called the boy Aias for the bird. So the bulwark of the Greeks bears in his name the omen-eagle of Heracles.2
From Salamis he brought twelve ships and stationed them where the Athenian battalions stood. While Achilles kept to his wrath, Homer reckons Aias far the best of warriors in the host, save the son of Peleus alone. Priam, watching from the wall, asks Helen who is this Achaean towering with his head and broad shoulders above the Argives; she names him huge Aias, bulwark of the Achaeans. He bears a tower-like shield of seven oxhides faced with bronze, and beside it his half-brother Teucer, son of Telamon by another mother, shoots and ducks back under its cover.3
When Hector challenged the best of the Greeks to single combat, lots were cast among the champions and the lot leaped out for Aias. He came and stood close by Hector, threatening that the Trojans would now learn what manner of chieftains the Danaans had even after Achilles; the two fought with spear and stone until night parted them, and they exchanged gifts. Pausanias saw at Olympia the offering of the whole Achaean race — figures of the heroes who dared to draw lots to meet Hector, with Nestor casting the lot.4
His was the war of the holding line. When Hector breached the wall and set fire to the ships, it was Aias who gave way last and fought on the very decks; over the fallen body of Patroclus he and Menelaus stood against the Trojan press, and after Achilles' death he carried the corpse through a shower of darts while Odysseus fought off the assailants. At the funeral games for Achilles he won the contest of the quoit.5
The arms of Achilles were set up as a prize for the bravest, and Aias and Odysseus came forward to contend for them. The judges — the captured Trojans, or, some say, the allies — preferred Odysseus. Crushed by the disgrace, Aias plotted a night attack on the army, but Athena drove him mad and turned him sword in hand among the cattle, and in his frenzy he slaughtered the herds with their herdsmen, taking them for the Achaeans; coming to himself, he slew himself. Homer's Odysseus meets him among the dead: alone of all the shades, the spirit of Aias son of Telamon stood apart, still wrathful for the victory over him in the contest by the ships, and would answer not a word.6
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the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story
