A good antique Grand Tour bronze of the classical hero Ajax. In outstanding condition and a very fine cast with deep brown patination.. Almost certainly French, Circa 1880. In Sophocles' play Ajax, a famous retelling of Ajax's demise takes place - after the armor is awarded to Odysseus the hero Ajax falls to the ground, exhausted. When he wakes up, he is under the influence of a spell from Athena. He goes to a flock of sheep and slaughters them, imagining they are the Achaean leaders, including Odysseus and Agamemnon. When he comes to his senses, covered in blood, and realizes what he has done, with diminished honor he decides that he prefers to kill himself rather than to live in shame. He does so with the same sword Hector gave him when they exchanged presents.From his blood sprang a red flower, as at the death of Hyacinthus, which bore on its leaves the initial letters of his name Ai, also expressive of lament. His ashes were deposited in a golden urn on the Rhoetean promontory at the entrance of the Hellespont. 10.5 inches high by 6 inches wide by 3.25 inches deep ( 26.25 cm by 15 cm by 8 cm)