Life after the 10-year Trojan War was difficult for the highly-decorated Greek officer Ajax. He had trouble leaving the battlefield. He became irrationally violent. He felt isolated.
Although Ajax’s story was written in the fifth century B.C., his post-war experience is worth retelling, especially for today’s military warriors. The way Sophocles put it, Ajax suffered from “divine madness.” Today, his symptoms would be better described as post-traumatic stress disorder.
The 21st Space Wing will host the “Theater of War” production, a retelling of Sophocles’ ancient Greek plays “Ajax” and “Philoctetes” July 13 at the base auditorium. Philoctetes was a wounded Greek war veteran who had trouble reintegrating and accepting assistance, and he mistrusted the army that he felt abandoned him and his illness.
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