Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

After Ajax’s madness and suicide at Troy, Teucer buried his half-brother against the Atreidae’s opposition and sailed home to Salamis. Telamon, grieving and angry that Teucer had not brought Ajax back alive—or blaming him as the bastard son of Hesione for failing to guard his brother—refused him landing and drove him from the island. Sophocles’ *Ajax* already foreshadows this cold welcome: Teucer dreads his father’s face more than the enemy. Exiled, Teucer sought a new home. Guided by oracle (Apollo’s counsel in common tradition), he sailed to Cyprus and founded a city named Salamis after his lost island, becoming ancestor of the Teucrid kings of Cyprus. Some strands link him to Belus or local Cypriot dynasts by marriage. The nostos thus turns failure at home into colonial kingship: the archer who fought under Ajax’s shield becomes founder across the sea, carrying Aeacid and Trojan blood (through Hesione) to a new Salamis while the old island remains Telamon’s bitter seat.