About the work
An early tragedy by Sophocles about the dispute over Achilles' armour and Ajax's suicide. No firm date survives; scholars generally place it around the middle of the fifth century BC, with 449 BC suggested as a plausible date on stylistic grounds.
Plot
After Achilles' death, his armour is awarded not to Ajax but to Odysseus. Driven mad by Athena, Ajax slaughters herds of cattle overnight, mistaking them for the Greek commanders. Once his madness lifts and he realizes his disgrace, he kills himself with Hector's sword. In the play's second half, Teucer and Odysseus argue against Agamemnon and Menelaus for Ajax to receive an honourable burial.
Cultural significance
Ajax was already highly regarded in antiquity among Sophocles' plays. Modern scholarship often reads Ajax's suicide as a negotiation of honour and its loss within a changing, increasingly democratic social order.