Dear Friends of ancient mythology! And here is the other Ajas! It is one of the few coins which I have where the subject is the Trojan War. And it is a beauty! I'm proud to be able to present it here! The coin: Bithynia, Prusa ad Olympum, Caracalla AD 198-217 AE 25, 6.38g, 25.03mm, 45° obv. AVT K M AVP AN - TΩNINOC CEB bust, laureate, r. rev. ΠPO - VCAEΩ - N Aias, nude, helmeted, kneels on r. knee l., l. leg stretched behind, holding with r. hand sword against his belly to throw itself in his sword; heap of rocks before and round shield below him. ref. BMC Bithynia, p.197, 22 very rare, nice Patina Mythology: The revers shows a famous scene of the Trojan War, the suicide of Aias the Great. Aias (Latin Aiax) was the son of king Telamon of Salamis, therefore called 'the Telamonian' too. He was called Aias the Great in contrary to Aias the Lesser, the son of king Oileus of Lokris, therefore called 'the Locrian'. Aias the Great was the bravest heroe behind Achilleus in front of Troy. He wounded Hektor in duel, he could repel the attack of the Trojans against the Greek ships and he helped to save the body of Patroklos. After Achilleus was killed by a poisoned arrow of Paris who hit his only vulnerable point, his heel, Aias wore his body from the slaughter field and then required Achilleus' weapons for himself. But a greek jury awarded them to Odysseus. In his rage Aias wanted to kill all Greeks. But Athena beat him with madness and he killed a whole herd of sheep. When he came to consciousness again and saw what he had done because of shame he throw itself in his sword. From his blood arose a flower, the delphinium, from whose petals one could read AI, the first letters of his name and a greek cry of soreness too. Background: The madness which caused Aias to massacre a herd of sheep doesn't occure on Homer. But this subject is broad worked out by Aischylos, in Sophokles' 'Aias' and in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The myth of the origin of the flower from Aias' blood was introduced by Ovid because the story should match his Metamorphoses by this transformation motiv. A tomb of Aias stood on the Rhoiteic Cape. At Salamis he was worshipped as divine; here and in Athens the Aianteia, the fest of Aias, was celebrated; the attic phyle Aiantis has a preferred position. The fact that there were two Aias has baffled me when I read the greek myths for the first time. Now the scholars Robert and v.d.Mühll assumed, that the two Aias originated by doubling or splitting a single being. The separation of these figures would be promoted by the fact that most of the divine saviours appear as pairs. I have added one of the most important depictions of Ajas. Pat Lawrence has written me about it: Generally regarded as the most profound and unforgettable depiction of the compulsive madness of the suicidal Ajas (but not so frequently seen, being in a small museum), here is the Boulogne amphora. It is nearly a century earlier than Sophokles' tradgedy, and it triumphs stupendously over what frivolous writers regard as a limited technique: black figure, incised silhouette, vase-painting. Sir John Beazley, in his famous Sather Classical Lectures, said, "Exekias is alone in showing not the dead hero, or the moment of his death, but the slow preparation for the final act...The face--and this is rare in black-figure--is furrowed with grief." The Development of Attic Black-Figure, Ch. VI (page number differs in the two editions). Sources: (1) Homer (2) Aischylos (3) Sophokles (4) Ovid, Metamorphoses Literature: (1) Der kleine Pauly (2) Aghion/Barbillon/Lissarrague, Reclams Lexikon der antiken Götter und Heroen in der Kunst (3) Gerhard Fink, Who's who in der antiken Mythologie Best regards
Wonderful coin and write up (as usual). Here is my coin with the lesser Ajax (at least I assume it is since it is from Lokris): Lokris Opuntia Hemidrachm around 350 BCE 2.60 g. Head of a nymph with reed wreath, simple ear pendants and necklace to the right / Ajax in the Corinthian helmet with drawn short sword storming to the right, holding above the left arm oval shield with a lion as inner jewelry, spear lying on the ground. BMC 26 Very nice
