#ajax and odysseus

[katerinaaqu]

The Preparation for Ajax's Suicide (Black-Figure Technique, Amphora by Exekias), Greek 550-525 BC, Château-Musée de Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.

We know the story, how Aias the son of Telamon (or Ajax the Great) loses his senses because of Athena and attacks a flock of sheep because the armor of Achilles was given to Odysseus instead of himself. Ashamed by his action and horrified he comits suicide by throwing himself on his sword.

Even if the vases depicting his suicide are extremely powerful I think nothing tops this masterpiece! Not only we do have the amazing tecnique of Exekias with the amazing engraved details from the Gorgoneion on the shield till Ajax's hair and beard

The methodical way he prepares himself for the end is giving such a tension in the atmosphere! And so much contrasting his madness that brought him there! There is a slow pace here that prepares you for the end! He almost seems to be patting his sowrd with care! The fall of a great warrior that is about to go down ashamed!

but also by the amazing thematic. The tension is so much greater because we see how Ajax prepares himself for the end. He is alone. There is no one around but a palm tree (ironically the palm tree is called "phoenix" in greek, similar sounding to the bird phoenix that signifies death and rebirth) wich is there only to show where he is.

His armor is placed to the side and he himself is naked; stripped off anything that made him a warrior. The way even his face shows his tension in this seems great to me.

And the way he places the sword to the ground and makes sure that the sword would stay still and steady as he is ready to fall on it!

~~

Ajax is mentioned to my analysis here as well as to the third part of my faniction The Death of Odysseus

[greeknerdsblog]

⚠️It does not justify their actions in a culture and period full of war and suffering⚠️

[simoondraws]

"The horse and the infant"

[mushyooms]

it's been snowing lately, so achaean camp in winter

and an older version before i've put 1000 overlays on it

[adriles]

From my will: No funeral. Instead host a debate between some of the guys i know for ownership of my stuff, sowing hatred and distrust between them. as a bit

[n0ahs-ark]

i cant stop listening to Epic

alt

[ilions-end]

i love the part of sophocles' ajax where odysseus very carefully, very diplomatically debates agamemnon, trying to convince him that ajax deserves a proper burial

some of my favourite lines:

AGAMEMNON: Odysseus, are you for me or are you against me, and for this man? ODYSSEUS: I hated him when it was honourable to hate him.

!!

ODYSSEUS: He was my enemy, but he was also noble. AGAMEMNON: And you have respect for an enemy's corpse? ODYSSEUS: I am moved by admiration for his greatness, rather than by hatred for his smallness. AGAMEMNON: He was a man of many turns. ODYSSEUS: Many of our friends later become enemies. AGAMEMNON: But do you wish to praise these so-called friends? ODYSSEUS: I do not see friends and enemies as mutually exclusive.

and the finishing blow:

AGAMEMNON: I see now that every man works for himself. ODYSSEUS: Who else should a man work for?

[ochiody]

i really dont want to line this

[wolfythewitch]

Hades fanart depicting Patroclus and Achilles beating the shit out of Odysseus' shade is so funny because they did run into each other another time in the odyssey, when Odysseus went down into the underworld

And they were chill. Achilles was sad about dying so Odysseus told Achilles about what happened to Neoptolemus to comfort him, and Achilles zoomed around with joy

[josephinecarttanneur]

All men of the Illiad

[zippyskyfalls]

Ya'll hear me out... instead of the Trojan Horse... it's the Trojan Whores.

"Diomedes will lead the charge! Agamemnon will *** the guards! Menaleus will *** our mates through the gates and *** the whole city at large. Trucer will *** any ambush attack, and little Ajax will stay back. Nester, secure Helen and *** her, Neo; avenge your father, *** the brothers of Hector!"

"YES SIR-"

Au belongs to @anniflamma

[ithacantrickster]

pov: you’re Ajax, having just "killed" your buddies in a rage, only to realize they watched you humiliate yourself the entire time

but really just an excuse to draw these guys >:]

[incorrecthomer]

Ajax: Anyone under 5'7 can't talk about fighting someone. Like, what are you gonna do? Headbutt someone in the nipples? Odysseus: Say goodbye to your kneecaps, asshole.

[specialagentartemis]

I do think it’s funny how consistently Menelaus is portrayed in Greek tragedy as just, a total asshole. Rude and cruel and just the fucking worst.

This is because Menelaus was the mythic king of Sparta, and Sophocles and Euripides who were writing these plays were Athenian, and more to the point, Athenian living during the Peloponnesian War against Sparta. It’s literally just the ancient version of making all the antagonists in every American movie in the 80s and 90s Russian. Writers going, You know the guys we’re at war with? They SUCK

[sol-thorne]

So I uhhh... I finished the Iliad. I had a lot of fun but there were so MANY weird ass funny moments that I HAD to draw. Enjoy my personal retelling of these bits. (The designs for the characters are very undocumented and definitely not final though).

PART ONE:

Part two over there!

[masterofthewarcry]

if the iliad was an office sitcom the classic episode format would be this: achilles gets the office into some bullshit. agamemnon spends the whole episode complaining about the problem and berating achilles, achilles yells at him back, they get nothing done. menelaus tries to solve the problem with an anecdote about his wife but no one lets him finish the story. the ajaxes try to brute force everything back to normal and end up making everything worse. patroclus breaks up the fighting between agamemnon and achilles by threatening to go to HR. near the end of the episode agamemnon gives the signal to odysseus and diomedes (who for the majority of the episode have been enjoying the chaos from the comfort of their desks) to actually fix whatever the problem is. odysseus and diomedes fix it, odysseus adds a row to his spreadsheet of things to blackmail agamemnon with, and they all go home. 22 minutes with commercials.