These days the notion of honor in modern American culture often feels like a foreign ideal.  24-hour news inundates us with scandalous stories and the destroyed lives of revered public figures after they fall prey to their vices.  Indeed, no one is immune to the ever-watching eye of public scrutiny and shame.  Yet, while everyone is quick to point a moral finger at poorly thought-out comments or actions, the elevation of heroes escapes these same moral grand-standers.  The life-blood of modern media is scandal and fear.  It's no wonder the topics of the day seem to never venture far from controversy or crime.  Perhaps in our age of safety, overabundance, and relative historic freedom, we simply fall back on stories that give us a negative emotional response.  Perhaps it's human nature to want what we don't have enough of.  By extension, this is often how people in the U.S. stand out - by sounding alarms and creating controversy. 
 
If not through attention-grabbing headlines and trending videos, how else do people stand-out today in American culture?  People stand-out through entrepreneurship.  Being an independent person and creating wealth through business is highly regarded today.  This still says nothing about character or honor.  Many highly influential tech leaders and top politicians are rather unattractive people, often inside and out.  Steve Jobs gave us the iPhone, but from the reflections of colleagues who worked closely with him, he wasn't always the sweetest human being, (to mention nothing of the iPhone sweatshop conditions in China).  How about our current president?  Disregarding politics completely, what kind of person is he?  Videos and scandals have emerged exposing some of his unfavorable thoughts and relationships with women outside of marriage.  Are these the heroes of the day?  What of the people who live balanced lives - healthy people who create adequate wealth and more health for their family and local society they live in?  How often do we see these people elevated on social media and gain positions of influence simply for being well-rounded, intelligent, honest people?  Maybe they are in relative short supply.  More likely, I think, our values are a little skewed now.  
 
Was ancient Greece any different?  The ancient Greeks lived in a rather plush part of the world, but nonetheless, they were still more exposed to the natural world, (the unruly gods Pan and Dionysus were ever-present).  Additionally, time moved slower.  Electricity didn't flow through homes and public spaces, cars weren't around buzzing through stop lights, and there were no refrigerators to keep fresh lamb meat and cheese unspoiled for the week.  The day consisted, in part, to tending crops and processing food.  It took up time.  There was no overabundance, in the modern sense, to tinker around in a garage and program the next killer app.  They didn't have the resources and networks to build a global hotel chain.  In their world, and with the living gods beckoning for libations, the ancient Greeks lived in a different domain of values.  Gods had favorites, and the favorites were the honorable men.  The honorable men were the men who fought well and out-thought opponents.  They spoke and acted with fairness.  Additionally,  and importantly, they had a touch of humility when it was warranted.  Without a little humility, bad things happened.  In ancient Greece, "hubris" was the 'excessive pride or defiance against the gods', which led good men to their downfall, (the downfall known as "nemesis" in ancient Greece).  With a little humility, the gods may be appeased, and the downfall avoided.

Ajax, the tragic hero in the Sophocles play of the same name, succumbs to his own hubris.  Following the death of Achilles, Ajax learns he will not be awarded Achilles's armor - armor forged by the god Hephaestus.  Instead, the commanders Agamemnon and Menelaus decide to award the fallen hero's armor to Odysseus, the same central character in Homer's Odyssey.  Ajax is furious at the news, and in his rage, moves to kill the three of the them.  Athena disguises the camp's cattle and makes them appear as Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Odysseus.  Ajax slaughters the cattle in a furious stupor.  He soon learns that he has been tricked by Athena and the men he intended to kill are still alive.  He's ashamed by his folly and chooses to take his life with his own sword, reflecting, "Sweet daylight and holy soil of my own Salamis, pedestal of my natal hearth, and you, resplendent Athens with your race, and springs and rivers here on the plains of Troy, I salute you all, you have sustained me.  These are the last words of Ajax to you; the rest will be those in Hades down below."  He leaves behind his wife Tecmessa, son Eurysaces, and half-brother Teucer.  His shame from defying the gods and giving in to his rage trumps the pleas from his wife and image of his son. 
 
Ultimately, Ajax is the victim of his hubris.  Ajax may have been the greatest Greek warrior of his day, besides Achilles.  He is described as a giant of a man, with good looks, no less.  No one could match him on the Trojan side, not even Hector.  Yet, like Achilles, he has a pride problem, which leads to his outburst against his comrades-in-arms.  Ajax recognizes his folly against his friends, afterwards, even if the gods reveal it to him through deceit.  The redemption, then, comes through his own sacrifice, though it may seem extreme.  In ancient Greece, the mortals are the playthings of the gods in one sense, but in another sense, the gods impose a humility within the people - a balance if you will - one that when lost, results in tragedy.  A little humility in some of our modern heroes might serve them well too, lest they fall on their own swords.         
           

Summary:  The essence of Greek hubris and nemesis distilled down into a play about one of ancient Greek mythology's most famous warriors.   
 
Rating:  7.5

-E.B.
 2018-09-10