Ajax the Great is the son of Telamon, who was the son of Aeacus and grandson of Zeus, and his first wife Periboea. He is the cousin of Achilles, and is the elder half-brother of Teucer. His given name is derived from the root of "to lament", translating to "one who laments; mourner". Many illustrious Athenians, including Cimon, Miltiades, Alcibiades and the historian Thucydides, traced their descent from Ajax. On an Etruscan tomb dedicated to Racvi Satlnei in Bologna (5th century BC) there is an inscription that says, "aivastelmunsl" which means "[family] of Telamonian Ajax". In Homer's "Iliad" he is described as of
Battle of Salamis (306 BC) and baggage train of Demetrius', a gesture reciprocated by Demetrius after his success at Myus in the next year. Demetrius honoured this after Salamis as well, immediately releasing Menelaus and other relatives and friends of Ptolemy who had been captured with their personal possessions. When Ptolemy recaptured Cyprus in 295 BC, and found Demetrius' mother and children at Salamis, he again reciprocated by immediately releasing them. The victory at Salamis was used by Antigonus as a suitable pretext for his own proclamation as king ("basileus"), the Macedonian throne having lain vacant since the murder of Alexander IV of Macedon by