Ajax (missionary)

Ajax was an Arian missionary to the pagan Suevi of Galicia who converted them to Christianity in 464Thompson, "Spain and Britain", in Romans and Barbarians, 215.

Due in part to his unusual Homeric name his origins have been debated. The contemporary chronicler Hydatius, the Catholic bishop of Aquae Flaviae, refers to him as Aiax natione Galata. "Galata" may refer to either a Galician, Gaul, or Galatian. It is doubtful that he was the first, since Hydatius would have called him Gallaeci. It is sometimes assumed that "Galata" is a way to refer to a Greek from the East (i.e. Galatia). On the other hand the term may mean that he was Celtic, either Gaulish or Galatian. This usage of "Galata" for a Celt may be expected in Hydatius, who had travelled to the East as a child,

Ajax was sent by Theodoric II, king of the Visigoths at Toulouse, to convert the Suevi to Arianism. The barbarian Arians showed a markedly greater missionary fervour than the Catholics in the...
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