Ajax: the name, the Greek warrior, the myth...

[Bonafide]

ive got a question that ive been askin myself for a long time ...
what's the connection between Ajax Amsterdam and the greek soldier? (or whatever it is) why this greek is our symbol?

K.

[Arthur]

The Greek guy happens to be called Ajax. Is that connection enough for you? ;)

[Bonafide]

kind of .. thank you
there is any story about him?

[The Purple Cow]

The founders of Ajax Amsterdam borrowed the name from a club called Ajax Leiden.

The deal was that after 99 years they were supposed to give up the Ajax name, so it would revert back only to the Leiden club.

Now fortunately for our Ajax, the Leiden Ajax appear to have lost their copy of the agreement. This could have been lost in a fire in KNVB's records office, that occured (I believe ) during the second world war, but nobody really knows.

I played cricket against Ajax Leiden a couple of years ago and they told me then that they are still looking for the agreement. If they find it, they plan to organise a new deal with Amsterdam which allows them to continue using the name for another extended period of time, in return for annual football game to be played between the two clubs.

Simon Kuper, who wrote all those Ajax and the war books, also played football and cricket for Ajax Leiden.

[Bonafide]

thank you all so much

[Cedric]

Really interesting story... I have a page that tries to explain the name "Ajax" on my website (there's a new version since yesterday by the way - www.ajaxenfrance.com), but I didn't know that. Maybe I can add this, with your permission, of course.

So, if I understand well, Ajax was founded by Stempel and co, then they discovered there was already Ajax Leiden, so they borrowed the name. But it doesn't answer to the question "Why Ajax ?". I know he was a great warrior, but why not another one ? Maybe there isn't any particular reason, but I'm just curious to know...

[Jesse]

Ajax borrowed the name from a club called A.S.C. in Oegstgeest, a town near Leiden. My parents home is near this club, I played there for 14 years and sometimes I still play there. The name A.S.C. stands for Ajax Sportman Combinatie, or Ajax Sportsmen Combination.

[Kowalczyk]

In addition to the above: as you all know Ajax was a warrior in ancient Geek mythology (not a god, as some seem to think, but a warrior). The story of Ajax was written by Sophocles and is available in almost any language. You can purchase an English version of the story of Ajax here on Amazon.com, for example.

When Ajax was founded in 1900 football clubs were established throughout The Netherlands. It was a real boom and it was 'trendy' in Holland at the time to name your club after characters from Greek mythology. Many Dutch clubs (especially amateur clubs) were founded around 1900 and named after Greek heroes: in professional football we have Heracles (a.k.a. Hercules) and Sparta (not a character but a Greek province that was important in several myths). And there are amateur clubs named after Hercules, Achilles, Xerxes - and others. In the same period many swimming clubs named themselves Neptunus (Neptune), for example.

K.

[Manneken Pis]

By chance I saw the movie "Troy" last night.
Not bad although the changed the plot a bit....
I was however very disapointed by the Ajax character.
Ajax was a big bearded thugish character, not at all in the spirit of our club.....he looked like an f-word fan to be honest...... ;)

[Frans]

By chance I saw the movie "Troy" last night.
Not bad although the changed the plot a bit....
I was however very disapointed by the Ajax character.
Ajax was a big bearded thugish character, not at all in the spirit of our club.....he looked like an f-word fan to be honest...... ;)

The plot was changed more than a bit. But 'tis true. Ajax was the Feyenoord type. Now Odysseus, there was a hero with a bit of style and more than 5 brain cells. And with a pronounced arrogant streak. And he beat Ajax in the 'battle' for Achilles' armour. I think he's the real 'Ajax' man.

Crimey, that was a disjointed ramble.

[Bert]

By chance I saw the movie "Troy" last night.
Not bad although the changed the plot a bit....
I was however very disapointed by the Ajax character.
Ajax was a big bearded thugish character, not at all in the spirit of our club.....he looked like an f-word fan to be honest...... ;)

No, he looked like Barry Hulshoff! :cheer: :D

[Kowalczyk]

So, we are named after some thick f*cker, eh...?

Nice one. :headbang:

K.

[Manneken Pis]

By chance I saw the movie "Troy" last night.
Not bad although the changed the plot a bit....
I was however very disapointed by the Ajax character.
Ajax was a big bearded thugish character, not at all in the spirit of our club.....he looked like an f-word fan to be honest...... ;)

No, he looked like Barry Hulshoff! :cheer: :D

I was thinking more....John de Wolf...... ;)

[Blind3]

I'm still seeing Barry Hulshoff as Ajax, though I doubt Ajax listened to Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin between battles. Thickness, bearded, and ferocity don't ya know.

One negative: even I am forced to admit, however painful, that Ajax reported suicide ;after losing out to Odysseus in the battle for Achilles armour ;smells mightly like an F-word strategy.To wit:"When the going gets tough...the tough lay down and die." Witness their Eredivisie performances in the last few years.

Floris, perhaps you should've picked Zeus or Odysseus.

[666]

Here we go again.

What really happened...

The Ajax family fielded two teams in the Trojan War. Ajax The Great and Little Ajax. Kinda like Ajax 1 and Ajax 2 in the Amstel Cup. Both of them were braindead hooligans.

Ajax I

Son of Telamon, King of Salamis, Ajax The Great was slow of thought but quick in battle. After leading the team that kicked the enemies ass at the away game in Troy (1220 BC), General Ajax claimed the weapons of the late Achilles. However, that didn't go down well with the rest of the squad, who decided to hand the merchandise to Odysseus instead.
The utterly frustrated Ajax, never a good sport, took out his sword to kill his team mates (like Mido with the scissors), but after being blinded by the Goddess Athena he chopped up a herd of sheep and their shepherds into souvlaki instead. Struck with shame, our unfortunate hero committed harakiri by flinging himself onto the sword given to him by Hector in exchange for his belt.

Ajax II

After the son of Oileus, Ajax of Lokris, who was in the Trojan Horse line-up of 1184 BC, stole the Palladium (the sacred image of Pallas) from Athenas Temple and raped Cassandra at the altar, a very pissed-off Athena called on Zeus and Poseidon to kill that perverted little fuckwit.
Poseidon destroyed his fleet off the coast of Cape Caphareus, but Ajax Minor managed to survive and made it to the rock of Gyrae in injury time.
As the extra time ticked away, Little Ajax pushed his luck too far by shouting insults at the gods. The penalty shot by Poseidon, a thunderous bolt of lightning headed straight at the center of the goal, smashed his little rock to pieces and Ajax The Arrogant drowned in the sea.

Ouch! That hurts! The Great Ajax is a murderous Don Quichote, the lesser Ajax is a carbon copy of Patrick Kluivert. And our enemies of the Feyenoord and PSV discussion boards are lurking on this forum...

© 666

Ajax raping Cassandra in a menage-a-trois with Athenas statue:

[Kowalczyk]

Ouch! That hurts! The Great Ajax is a murderous Don Quichote, the lesser Ajax is a carbon copy of Patrick Kluivert. And our enemies of the Feyenoord and PSV discussion boards are lurking on this forum...

It makes sense, in a way... I've always felt attracted to fuck-ups. The ones that don't fit in, are too weird to succeed in life, but are exceptionally good at one thing. That one thing saved 'em (and eventually killed them). Nice to know that Ajax fits nicely into the Jack Kerouac and Kurt Cobain category.

;)

K.

[Kowalczyk]

This report is in the Dutch papers today. Pretty cool!

Archelogists discover palace of mythical hero Ajax

ATHENS, Greece - Archeologists claim to have discovered the remains of the 3,500 year old palave of Ajax, the hero from Greek mythology. Ajax was the bold, pugnacious Greek king who becomes one of the supreme heroes in the Trojan War, as described in Homer's Iliad.

The team of archelogists, supervised by Yannos Lolos from Greece, discovered the remains on the isle of Salamis. The palace once had four storeys and more than 30 rooms. The archeologists say that they are "certain" that it is Ajax's ancient residence.

According to the Iliad, Ajax was involved in a battle for the city of Troy, which raged for ten years. The city was ultimately taken by stratagem, after the trick with the legendary 'Trojan horse'. According to most scientists this happened in the year 1180 before Christ. According to Lolos Ajax's palace was abandoned around the same time. Ajax was the last king to live there.

"What we have here, is one of those rare cases in which a Mycenian palace can almost certainly be attributed to a Homeric hero," Lolos told British newspaper The Times.

Right! Ajax USA's Rendezvous 2007 will be in Greece, ladies and gentlemen! :xyxthumbs:

K.

[aveslacker]

Aww, right after I move away!X'C

In any event, Salamis is a neat island, just south of Corinth. Also the site of a famous naval battle.

[Kowalczyk]

Turns out that an Ajax-2 team already visited the place of Ajax's palace, back in the 1970s! Read this:

http://english.ajax.nl/show/id=118083/contentid=46472

Nice one! Great pics, too.

K.

[Kowalczyk]

This link is a nice one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_%28mythology%29

Nice little write-up on Ajax, the warrior.

K.

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

Ajax at first gets the better of the encounter, wounding Hector with his spear and knocking him down with a large stone, but Hector fights on until the heralds, acting at the direction of Zeus, call a draw: the action ends without a winner and with the two combatants exchanging gifts.

I guess Ajax won on Away goals :yes: