:''For other things named Ajax, see [[Ajax]]''
[[Image:Aias Kassandra Louvre G458.jpg|thumb|200px|Ajax the Lesser raping Cassandra.]]
[[Image:Poseidon and Ajax.png|thumb|200px|Poseidon killing Ajax the Lesser.]]
'''Ajax''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: '''Αἴας'''), was a [[Greek mythology|Greek]] hero, son of [[Oileus|Oïleus]] the king of [[Locris]], called the "lesser" or '''Locrian Ajax''', to distinguish him from [[Ajax (mythology)|Ajax]], son of [[Telamon]]. He was the leader of the [[Locrians|Locrian]] contingent during the [[Trojan War]]. He is a significant figure in the ''[[Iliad]]'' and is mentioned in the ''[[Odyssey]]''.

[[Homer]] gives a favorable description of him as a warrior. In spite of his small stature, he held his own amongst the other heroes before Troy; he was brave, next to [[Achilles]] in swiftness of foot and famous for throwing the spear. But he was boastful, arrogant and quarrelsome; like the Telamonian Ajax, he was the enemy of [[Odysseus]], and in the end the victim of the vengeance of [[Poseidon]], who wrecked his ship on his homeward voyage ''([[Odyssey]]'', iv. 499).

A later story gives a more definite account of the offense of which he was guilty. It is said that, after the fall of [[Troy]], he dragged [[Cassandra]] away by force from the statue of the goddess [[Athena]] at which she had taken refuge as a suppliant, and raped her ([[Lycophron]], 360, [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]] xiii. 422). For this, his ship was wrecked in a storm on the coast of [[Euboea]], and he himself was struck by lightning and impaled upon a rock. ([[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' I. 40-45).

He was said to have lived after his death in the island of [[Leuke]]. He was worshipped as a national hero by the [[Locrians]] (on whose coins he appears), who always left a vacant place for him in the ranks of their army when drawn up in battle array. The rape of Cassandra by Ajax was frequently represented in [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] works of art, for instance on the chest of [[Cypselus]] described by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (v. 17) and in extant works.

Note that the tragedy by [[Sophocles]] is based on [[Ajax (mythology)|Telamonian Ajax]].

==References==
*{{1911}}

{{Commonscat|Ajax the Lesser}}

{{Characters in the Iliad}}

[[Category:People of the Trojan War]]
[[Category:Characters in the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Fictional rapists]]
[[Category:Characters in the Iliad]]

[[br:Aias Oileos]]
[[bg:Аякс (Локрида)]]
[[cs:Aiás (malý)]]
[[de:Ajax der Kleine]]
[[el:Λοκροί#.CE.91.CE.AF.CE.B1.CF.82 .CE.BF .CE.9B.CE.BF.CE.BA.CF.81.CF.8C.CF.82]]
[[es:Áyax el Menor]]
[[fr:Ajax fils d'Oïlée]]
[[it:Aiace di Locride]]
[[lt:Ajaksas Mažasis]]
[[hu:Aiasz (Oileusz fia)]]
[[ja:小アイアス]]
[[ro:Aiax din Locres]]
[[ru:Аякс Малый]]
[[simple:Ajax the Lesser]]
[[fi:Aias (Oileuksen poika)]]
[[uk:Аякс Оїлід]]