Aias The Soldier
[Taken from Richmond Lattimore's translation of the Iliad]
Greatest of warriors after Achilleus is Aias. Homer is very firm about this. Aias carries on, from beginning to end, without benefit of supernatural aid. A huge man, he is compared to a wall, and carries a great shield of seven fold ox hide. Lack of inspired brilliance may go with the failure, in Aias' case, of that divine aid lavished on other heroes. He fights as a big man, with no aura of the supernatural about him; best on defense and when the going is worst. Lacking the glamour of others, never the greatest leader, Aias remains throughout the best soldier of them all.