The Fall of Troy: Ajax Attacking Cassandra Kleophrades Painter, c. 480 BCE courtesy of University of Haifa Library.

    Once the final massacre of Troy began, chaos infected the city. The Trojan women were at the mercy of the blood-crazed Greeks as they rampaged throughout the city. Only by acts of sexual aggression were the Greek men appeased, as is shown in the examples of Helen baring her breast to Menalaus in supplication, and Cassandra being raped by Little Ajax. For more information on the relationship between war and sex see Analysis of the Rape of Cassandra.

Ajax attacking Cassandra Altamura Painter c. 470-460BCE courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

    In Vergil's account of the fall of Troy in the Aeneid, Cassandra fled to the temple of Athena and clutched the wooden image of the warrior goddess, sometimes called the Palladium. There she was found by Little Ajax of the Greek side, who tried to drag her away from the statue, but she held on so tightly that he had to take it with him when he carried her off to slavery. The outraged Trojans attacked Ajax, and a skirmish ensued (Aeneid ii.402-413 Lewis translation). The narratives differ at this point as to whether or not Ajax actually carried off the image of Athena along with Cassandra, which few sources note (Pseudo-Apollodorus p2.239, E.5.22, n3). The most interesting difference is whether or not Ajax actually raped Cassandra. Most sources agree that he dragged her off into slavery, but none actually say that he raped her.

    Another account describes Athena's anger at the desecration of her temple. She is said to not have been able to restrain her tears at the sight; for she saw Little Ajax enter her temple, sieze Cassandra--Athena's priestess--while she was clasping Athena's image, and drag her away by the hair. At the time, Athena did nothing to help her priestess, for she was not on the side of the Trojans, but "her cheeks burned with anger, and her image gave forth a sound that shook the floor of the temple. Turning her eyes from this scene of crime, she swore to avenge the wrong done to Cassandra." (as related in Schwab p563)

    One of the worst things a Greek could do to anger the gods was to violate someone in the sanctuary of a god. Suppliants were supposed to be protected and inviolable, especially at an altar. This space was considered sacred, the place for sacrifices to be made, and the desecration of such a holy place was sure to anger the gods. Greeks were strictly prohibited from "having intercourse in a sanctuary" in Herodotus 2.64, and surely the defilement or even attack of the god's own priestess in his or her temple was even worse an offense. The crime of Ajax, whether it was rape or not, deserved a damning punishment.

Rape of Cassandra Codros Painter, c. 430BCE courtesy University of Haifa Library.

    What happened after the supposed rape of Cassandra is fascinating, since the sources vary once more on what happens. It is agreed that Agamemnon claimed Cassandra as a reward for himself. Then, apparently, as the Greeks were about to set sail, Odysseus felt obliged to tell Agamemnon that Ajax had raped Cassandra, which Ajax vehemently denied. Calchas warned the Greeks that if this were so, Athena must be placated for the insult. Odysseus then proposeed that the Greeks stone Ajax for punishment, but Ajax ran away and hid in Athena's temple, where he swore an oath that Odysseus was lying. Even Cassandra herself never admitted that any wrong had been done to her. Ajax finally apologized for displacing Athena's image from the temple and offered to work off his crime. (from cyclic epic Iliou Persis, as related in Graves p700, Lloyd-Jones p74-5)

    It is unclear as to whether Athena wanted to punish Ajax for raping Cassandra or for removing her image from its sanctuary, but she punished him nonetheless. Ajax never returned to his homeland alive to offer sacrifices to appease Athena. Instead, like so many other Greeks in the Odyssey, Ajax was killed when his ship wrecked on the Gyraean Rocks. (Odyssey iv.500-10 Mandelbaum translation) The great storms that arose as the Greek fleet set off from the Trojan shores is generally attributed to Athena's wrath over the rape of Cassandra. Aeschylus addresses this narrative in Agamemnon (65-75), where Athena complains to Poseidon:

ATHENA: Do you not know the insult done to me and the shrine I love?

POSEIDON: I do: when Ajax dragged away Cassandra by force.

ATHENA: Yes, and the Achaeans did nothing, said nothing to him.

    So in essence, Cassandra was the reason that the Greeks never successfully returned to Greece. In a way, her prophetic curse that she would avenge her city through marriage had come true. If Cassandra had not been raped or attacked in any way at Athena's temple, there would have been no Odyssey.

• Introduction
• Cassandra and Apollo
• Cassandra's Prophesies for Troy
• The Rape of Cassandra
• Cassandra and Agamemnon
• Analysis of the Rape of Cassandra
• Bibliography