Verse play · c. 450 BC
Ajax
Aias
Translated by Lewis Campbell (1906)
Denied the armour of the dead Akhilleus, which is awarded to Odysseus, Ajax plans to murder the Greek chiefs; Athena drives him mad and he slaughters the army’s flocks instead. Waking to his shame, he deceives his captive-wife Tecmessa and the sailors of Salamis and falls on his sword, and his half-brother Teucer must then defend his body against Menelaus and Agamemnon until Odysseus secures his burial.
Contents · 15 parts
- Dramatis Personae7 lines
- Prologueabout 140 lines
- Parodos86 lines
- First Episodeabout 150 lines
- Kommos85 lines
- Second Episodeabout 170 lines
- First Stasimon38 lines
- Third Episode48 lines
- Second Stasimon34 lines
- Fourth Episodeabout 100 lines
- Fifth Episode50 lines
- Kommos of the Searchabout 110 lines
- Sixth Episodeabout 220 lines
- Third Stasimon38 lines
- Exodosabout 210 lines