Tecmessa, daughter of Teleutas, King of Phrygia, or Teuthras, King of Teuthrania in Mysia, or Tethras or Teuthas.[1] During the Trojan War, Telamonian Ajax kills Tecmessa's father and takes her captive; his reason for doing so may have been, as the 1st-century BC Roman poet, Horace, wrote, that Ajax was captivated by Tecmessa's beauty.[2] In Sophocles' Ajax, Tecmessa unsuccessfully tries to dissuade Ajax from committing suicide. She is the first to find his corpse, which she promptly covers with her own clothing to prevent further heartache. Their infant son, Eurysaces, however, survives the incident.[3]
Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Sophocles, The Ajax of Sophocles edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Sophocles, Sophocles. Vol 2: Ajax. Electra. Trachiniae. Philoctetes with an English translation by F. Storr. The Loeb classical library, 21. Francis Storr. London; New York. William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company. 1913. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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