Classics

Ajax

By Sophocles

Translated by Ian Johnston

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Sophocles (c. 496 BC to 406 BC), the great Athenian tragic dramatist, wrote Ajax early in his career, perhaps around 440 BC. It is one of the seven plays which survive from the more than one hundred and twenty plays Sophocles wrote. Ajax presents the story of the final day in the life of one of the most glorious heroes from the world of the Iliad, the great Ajax, king of Salamis, the finest warrior after Achilles, who is driven mad by the gods, commits unspeakable atrocities, and then must face up to what he has done, particularly to the shame he must now encounter from his colleagues and his family. How can a hero who has always lived by the traditional heroic code continue living after such a disgrace? Ajax’s resolution of this problem is one of the very greatest scenes in tragic drama. In the character of Odysseus, Ajax’s great enemy, Sophocles also explores how a society which has moved beyond the heroic age should deal with such disasters. Ian Johnston new translation is an accurate and fluent rendition of Sophocles’ text, especially suitable for dramatic production

Category: Classics
ISBN (softcover): 978-1-935238-93-5
e-ISBN: 978-1-935238-07-2
Author: Sophocles
Translator: Ian Johnston

"These new dramatic releases provide us once again with that powerful and direct style of translation for which Professor Johnston has become known. Students reading these translations will have no doubt of the passion and issues raised by the plays."

— Princeton Professor Emerita Elaine Fantham
Excellent translation, easy to read, wonderful entry to epic Greek poems.
I'm a student at the University of Illinois - Chicago and am a big fan of your work. I strangely find myself coming back again and again to your work... leaving each time with a satisfying reading experience. As I'm sure you are acutely aware, your work has a certain pristine quality to it that other translations fall short of. The clarity of your expression (and the accuracy too) is quite remarkable.