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EMILY VARTO

Dalhousie University

Hero from the ISLAND of SALAMIS, son of TELAMON and grandson of AEACUS. Telamon was exiled from AEGINA and settled on Salamis, where Ajax was born (Apollod. Bibl. 3.12.7; Diod. Sic. 4.72.7). Ajax fought at TROY and committed SUICIDE after Achilles’ armor was given to Odysseus instead of him (Little Iliad, PEG F2; Pind. Nem. 7.23–30, 8.26–27; Soph. Ajax).

Ajax’s later genealogical connections are inconsistent in the sources. Ajax and Aeacus were claimed as ancestors, via Ajax’s son Philaeus, by the Philaidae FAMILY at ATHENS (Hdt. 6.35.1), which included MILTIADES THE YOUNGER, the victor at MARATHON, and his son CIMON THE YOUNGER, the fifth‐century Athenian general. This genealogical information is irreconcilable with the GENEALOGY of Miltiades given by Pherecydes (BNJ 3 F2), which may be a simplified, enlongated stemma drawing on names from family and local Athenian traditions (Thomas 1989, 161–73; Duplouy 2006, 61–64; Fowler 2013, 474–80). Elsewhere in Pherecydes, Telamon is an Athenian, son of Actaeus (BNJ 3 F60). In other sources, Salamis was given to Athens by Philaeus and Eurysaces, both sons of Ajax (Plut. Sol. 10) or by Philaeus, son of Eurysaces, son of Ajax (Paus. 1.35.2). In any case, Athenian tradition closely associated Ajax with both Salamis and Athens, and with Athens’ control of the island (Duplouy 2006, 61–64).

According to Herodotus, although Ajax was from Salamis, his name was given to one of the Cleisthenic tribes because he was a neighbor and ally (5.66). Before the Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE, the Athenians ask the Aeacidae for help, specifically calling upon Ajax and Telamon and bringing cult images of Aeacus and the Aeacidae from Aegina (8.64); following the battle, the Greeks dedicate a victory offering to Ajax on Salamis (8.121).

SEE ALSO: Cleisthenes son of Megacles; Heroes and Hero Cult; Miltiades the Elder; Myth