The Mythical Heroes of the Trojan War
Myths of the Greek Heroes Achilles and Ajax are both know as great heroes of the Trojan War. Behind the guts and glory of war, what were they, who were they? Achilles was the son of nymph Thetis and Peleus the king of the Myrmidons. Ajax was the son of Telamon, who was the son of Aeacus and grandson of Zeus. Achilles and Ajax are closely related and their relationship being so close knit makes being at war a dismal time for both of them. Achilles was a man of anger and with this anger he dishonored Agamemnon, the commander of the Achaean forces. This forced Achilles to withdraw from the battle.
After Agamemnon took Chrysies the daughter of a priest of Apollo, Achilles saw a way of returning to his rein in the war. He followed Agamemnon instruction in protecting the prophet with the key to saving Greece from the plague that was forced upon them in order to free Chrysies. At the same time sweltering with wrath Achilles prayed to Thetis to convince Zeus to the Trojans gain ground in the war. He then would regain is honor in the Trojan War, the honor that he lost when dishonoring Agamemnon. After saving Greece from the plague Achilles refused to fght the war.
He believed that they were fighting for the wrong purpose. According to books, gods are immortal; Achilles proved this to be false. Patroclus was a beloved friend of Achilles and he was also his brother-in-arms. Achilles needed help with regaining power in the war since he was no longer fighting. Patroclus took his place and succeeded in pushing the Trojans back from the beaches he was killed by Hector the leader of the Trojans. After hearing of the death f his cherished friend, Achilles grieved knowing that it would have been him if he had stayed in the war.
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After the death of his friend, Achilles decided to end his protest. With this built up anger he fought and killed many Trojans but, he was always seeking out Hector. After finding his prey, Achilles chased Hector around Troy three times before Hector was convinced by Athena in the form of Hectors brother Deiphobus to fight Achilles face to face. After much more grieving over many loses of family and friends Achilles finally met his demise by bleeding out through the only ortal part of his body, his Achilles tendon hence the name Achilles. He was killed by Apollo and Paris.
Ajax was a man of great Stature. He endured his training from Centaur Chiron, right alongside his cousin Achilles. Being described as vicious, fearless, strong and powerful Ajax was also known for a very high level of battle intellect. He himself fought Hector twice. The first encounter was in Ajax's control. He hit Hector over the head with a hefty boulder even though Hector fghts back, Zeus calls a draw on the fight and it ends without a winner. The second fght between Ajax and Hector happened when the fght breaks out in the Mycenaean camp among the ships.
Hector is set on burning the ships of the Greeks. He feels that the Greeks would be defeated without their ships. The failure of defeating Hector made Zeus second guess who he wanted to favor. Agamemnon then sends Ajax to attempt to reconcile witn the great warrior Achilles and introduce him back to fghting in the war. He fails at convincing him to come back. After the death of his cousin Achilles, Ajax fights for the body of the hero and buried him next to his riend Patroclus.
After Achilles's death Ajax was known as the most vulnerable warrior in Agamemnon's army. After arguing and portraying the story of why Ajax deserves the magical armor of Hephaestus, Ajax lost the argument and the armor was awarded to Odysseus who proved to be more persuasive and believable in times of battle. Even though Ajax was the one who fought Hector driving him away with a massive rock and then fought him again away from the ships saving most of the Greek army and killing much of the charging Trojan Army.
After fighting for the armor nd losing Ajax falls to the ground and when he wakes he is under a spell put on him by Athena. The spell leads him to a flock of sheep who believes to be the Achaean leaders, Odysseus and Agamemnon and slaughters them. Waking up the blood of sheep he realizes what he had done. He preferred to no longer live than live in shame. In the first battle between Ajax and Hector, Zeus ended the fght and they exchanged gifts. Ajax gave him a shield and Hector gave him a sword. This very swords is the one is said to of been the one Ajax committed suicide with.
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