Ajax the Lesser, in Greek mythology, was a great Greek hero during the Trojan War. He is called Ajax the Lesser to distinguish him from another Greek hero of the Trojan War, called Ajax the Greater. Ajax had a sinful character. By raping the Trojan princess Cassandra in the temple of the goddess Athena, he brought divine wrath on the entire Greek force. Athena and the sea god Poseidon destroyed the ships of Ajax and other Greeks in a fierce storm in which Ajax died for his defiance of the gods. Ajax is the Latin form of the Greek Aias. He was the son of King Oileus.
