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3 - Ajax

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2024

Ruby Blondell
Affiliation:
University of Washington
David Konstan
Affiliation:
New York University
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Summary

The opening lines of Ajax are spoken by the goddess Athena, who addresses her favourite, Odysseus, as an adherent of Harm Enemies: he is tracking down an enemy as usual, in a manner worthy of his traditionally tricky persona. She is the dearest of gods to him, and they enjoy a solidarity inherited from the Odyssey. He places himself in her hands, as he has always done in the past. But despite the bond between them, a conflict of values emerges. When Odysseus is reluctant to view the mad Ajax Athena scolds him as a coward. She implies that any kind of fear or ’reluctance’ constitutes cowardice.

Type
Chapter
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Helping Friends and Harming Enemies
A Study in Sophocles and Greek Ethics
, pp. 60 - 105
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Ajax
  • Ruby Blondell, University of Washington
  • Foreword by David Konstan, New York University
  • Book: Helping Friends and Harming Enemies
  • Online publication: 06 June 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009465854.006
Available formats
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Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Ajax
  • Ruby Blondell, University of Washington
  • Foreword by David Konstan, New York University
  • Book: Helping Friends and Harming Enemies
  • Online publication: 06 June 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009465854.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Ajax
  • Ruby Blondell, University of Washington
  • Foreword by David Konstan, New York University
  • Book: Helping Friends and Harming Enemies
  • Online publication: 06 June 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009465854.006
Available formats
×