What Ancient Greeks Can Teach Us about War

What Ancient Greeks Can Teach Us about War
A reading from Ajax at Tsai Center on anniversary of Pearl Harbor

12.07.2011
By Rich Barlow

Think ancient literature is only for scholars? The Pentagon paid almost $4 million to Theater of War, a New York performance company, to present Sophocles’ Ajax at military sites around the country. Why would the brass promote a play about a mythical Greek hero who tries to assassinate his generals after the Trojan War for awarding a prize to his rival, Odysseus, instead of him?

Stay with us. In the play, believed to have been written about 440 B.C., the goddess Athena, Odysseus’ benefactress, clouds Ajax’s mind so that he butchers livestock instead of generals, after which, shamed, he kills himself. The tragedy centers on Ajax’s mad rage and the wartime situation that spurs it. Fighting two wars themselves, American military leaders wanted to mine Ajax for its insights into combat stress and to show soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that they are not alone. Theater of War brings the play and a follow-up discussion to the Tsai Performance Center tonight.


Actor Reg E. Cathey stars as Ajax tonight at the Tsai Performance Center. Photo courtesy of Theater of War

Today, of course, is the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and “it seems like an excellent time to honor our warriors, past, present, and future,” says Stephen Esposito, a College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of classics, who teaches in the Core Curriculum, which is copresenting tonight’s event.
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