# Odysseus — Ajax character guide

> Odysseus in Ajax by Sophocles.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** lord Odysseus, Odysseus Forbear, Odysseus Voice of Athena, Teucer Noblest Odysseus

**First appearance:** 0002-ajax

## Snapshot

The cunning rival who won the arms, tracking Ajax's bloody footprints at dawn — and the last man in the play you'd expect to show mercy.

## Who they are

Odysseus opens the play as a hunter, following fresh tracks with Athena as his guide, and the goddess offers him a free show: his enemy raving and ruined. He looks, but he does not gloat — his recoil at Ajax's humiliation is the first crack in the play's simple enmity. That flicker of fellow-feeling matters later, when the same Odysseus must decide whether a dead enemy deserves a grave, and chooses, against the generals, that he does.

## Relationships

### [Agamemnon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters/agamemnon)

_professional_

Agamemnon relies on Odysseus as a shrewd advisor and commander in the Greek army, though their alliance is pragmatic rather than warm.

### [Ajax](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters/ajax)

_rivalry_

Ajax bitterly resents Odysseus for winning Achilles' armor, viewing him as a cunning rival who robbed him of his rightful honor.

### [Athena](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters/athena)

_psychological_

Athena manipulates Odysseus as her favored mortal, guiding him while also using him to enact her vengeance on Ajax.

### [Menelaus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters/menelaus)

_professional_

Menelaus and Odysseus are fellow Greek commanders who cooperate politically, though their alliance is strained by differing agendas.

### [Messenger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters/messenger)

_professional_

The Messenger relays official communications to Odysseus, acting as a subordinate in the army's hierarchy.

### [Telamon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters/telamon)

_social_

Odysseus and Telamon are acquainted through their shared status as Greek heroes, but their interaction is limited and formal.

### [Zeus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters/zeus)

_psychological_

Odysseus invokes Zeus as a patron of wisdom and justice, seeking divine favor in his political maneuvers.

### [Agamemnon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters/agamemnon)

_professional_

Agamemnon relies on Odysseus as a shrewd advisor and commander in the Greek army, though their alliance is pragmatic rather than warm.

### [Athena](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters/athena)

_psychological_

Athena manipulates Odysseus as her favored mortal, guiding him while also using him to enact her vengeance on Ajax.

### [Ajax](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters/ajax)

_rivalry_

Ajax bitterly resents Odysseus for winning Achilles' armor, viewing him as a cunning rival who robbed him of his rightful honor.

### [Ajax](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters/ajax)

_rivalry_

Ajax bitterly resents Odysseus for winning Achilles' armor, viewing him as a cunning rival who robbed him of his rightful honor.

## In the story

### [Dramatis Personae](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/chapters/dramatis-personae)

King of Ithaca.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/chapters/endnotes)

Noted as reputed son of Sisyphus rather than Laertes.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters/odysseus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ajax_se/characters