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Palace of Homer's hero rises out of the myths From John Carr in Athens ARCHAEOLOGISTS claim to have unearthed the remains of the 3,500-year-old palace of Ajax, the warrior-king who according to Homer’s Iliad was one of the most revered fighters in the Trojan War. Classicists hailed the discovery, made on a small Greek island, as evidence that the myths recounted by Homer in his epic poem were based on historical fact. The ruins include a large palace, measuring about 750sq m (8,000sq ft), and believed to have been at least four storeys high with more than thirty rooms. Yannos...

ATHENS, Greece - Among the ruins of a 3,200-year-old palace near Athens, researchers are piecing together the story of legendary Greek warrior-king Ajax, hero of the Trojan War. Archaeologist Yiannis Lolos found remains of the palace while hiking on the island of Salamis in 1999, and has led excavations there for the past six years. Now, he's confident he's found the site where Ajax ruled, which has also provided evidence to support a theory that residents of the Mycenean island kingdom fled to Cyprus after the king's death. "This was Ajax' capital," excavation leader Lolos, professor of archaeology at Ioannina...

Foto: (1) The central palace complex from a 3,200-year-old settlement on the island of Salamis, near Athens, Greece, is shown in an undated handout picture provided by excavator Yiannis Lolos. Lolos said on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 that he believes he has found the seat of the mythical King Ajax of Salamis, one of the heroes of the Trojan War. The hilltop site overlooks a small natural harbor. (AP Photo) (2) Hieroglyphs spelling the name of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II appear at the bottom of a bronze piece from an ancient mail shirt, in this undated handout picture provided by...