How Ajax drew on The Iliad
A documented line of influence: Sophocles demonstrably engaged Homer’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
The Iliad
Homer · c. 750 BCE
Ancient GreeceThe influenced
Ajax
Sophocles · c. 440 BCE
Ancient GreeceRelevance
8/10
On Ajax’s page
- To understand Sophocles' Ajax, start with Homer's heroes
- Ancient critics called Sophocles "the most Homeric of poets," and Ajax proves it — his hero borrows the wounded-pride mentality of the Iliadic Achilles
- Reading the Iliad first gives you the warrior's honor-code that Sophocles puts on trial: the same fierce, unbending values, followed past the battlefield to where they curdle into ruin
On The Iliad’s page
- Sophocles was called "the tragic Homer" — and Ajax is where you see why
- Ajax is conceived fundamentally out of Homer: his ruinous pursuit of heroic honor is the mentality of the Iliadic Achilles, carried onto the tragic stage
- The Iliad's warrior code — what a man's honor is worth, and what it costs — becomes the thing that destroys him