Hero, Antagonist and Cousin: Some Remarks on Telamonian Ajax in the Ilias Latina

The author of the Ilias Latina — a complex literary epitome likely composed during the Neronian time — represents Ajax Telamonius in a very peculiar
way. The key passage concerning Ajax is the duel followed by a dialogue at lines
588–630: here, he is astonishingly presented as the son of Hesione, and therefore as
Hector’s cousin (a detail which is found in the IL for the first time, and later imitated
by Late Antique authors). Mostly every other passage recalls or anticipates this moment. The intratextual allusions highlight the kinship and indirectly invite readers
to recognize the greatness of Hector, and therefore of the Romans. The Virgilian
background is very strong and the new reading of line 626 proposed in this paper
strengthens it even more. Being Achilles’ cousin as well, Ajax builds an important
link between Trojans and Greeks. Moreover, the author of the epitome ‘translates’
Homer by choosing words and expressions charged with further literary meanings
related to the future of the character, and particularly by intersecting very fine intertextual allusions to Vergil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Armorum Iudicium (met. 13).