Philoctētes
（
Φιλοκτήτης). The son of Poeas, king of the Malians in
Oeta, by Demonassa. He inherited the bow and arrows of
Heracles (q.v.). He was leader of seven ships in the expedition against Troy; but, on
the way out, was bitten by a snake at Lemnos, or the small island of Chrysé near
Lemnos, and, on account of the intolerable stench caused by the wound, was abandoned at Lemnos
on the advice of Odysseus. Here in his sickness he dragged out a miserable life till the tenth
year of the war. Then, however, on account of Helenus's prophecy that Troy could only be
conquered by the arrows of Heracles, Odysseus and Diomedes went to fetch him, and he was
healed by Machaon. After he had slain Paris, Troy was conquered. He was one of the heroes who
came safe home again. The story of Philoctetes was dramatized by Aeschylus and Euripides (B.C.
431), as well as by Sophocles (409 B.C.), the last being still extant (ed. by Graves [Boston
and N. Y. 1894]). It is also the theme of numerous monuments of ancient art. See Prof. Jebb's
introduction to Soph.
Phil., p. xxxvii.
