Philoctetes - In modern literature

A Greek hero, the son of Poeas, who inherited the bow of Heracles and its poisoned arrows. On the way to Troy he was bitten by a snake, and the wound stank, so that he was left behind on the island of Lemnos. It was prophesied that only with the arrows of Heracles could Troy be taken, so Diomedes and Odysseus came to find Philoctetes. His wound was healed and he entered the battle, killing Paris.

In Greek mythology, Philoctetes (also Philoktêtês or Philocthetes, Φιλοκτήτης) was the son of King Poeas of Meliboea in Thessaly. The recall of Philoctetes is told in the lost epic Little Iliad, where his retrieval was accomplished by Odysseus and Diomedes.

Philoctetes was stranded on the Island of Lemnos or Chryse by the Greeks before the start of the Trojan War. There are at least four separate tales about what happened to strand Philoctetes on his journey to Troy, but all indicate that he received a wound on his foot that festered and had a terrible smell. One version holds that Philoctetes was bitten by a snake that Hera sent to molest him as punishment for his service to Heracles. (As he was the only one who would light Heracles' funeral pyre, Heracles bestowed on Philoctetes his magical bow and arrows.) Another tradition says that the Greeks forced Philoctetes to show them where Heracles's ashes were deposited. When, in expiation, the Achaeans offered a sacrifice to Achilles, a snake came out from the altar and bit Philoctetes. Finally, it is said that Philoctetes received his terrible wound on the island of Chryse, when he unknowingly trespassed into the shrine of the nymph after whom the island was named (this is the version in the extant play by Sophocles).

Regardless of the cause of the wound, Philoctetes was exiled by the Greeks and was angry at the treatment he received from Odysseus, who had advised the Atreidae to strand him.

Helenus, son of King Priam of Troy, was forced to reveal, under torture, that one of the conditions of the Greeks winning the Trojan War, was that they had to use the bow and arrows of Heracles. Upon hearing this, Odysseus then retrieved Philoctetes from Lemnos. Philoctetes then killed many Trojan heroes, including Paris, son of Priam and husband of Helen.

In modern literature

The legend of Philoctetes was used by André Gide in his play Philoctète.

Derek Walcott's modern Caribbean epic, Omeros, includes a character named Philoctete;

Philoctetes also appears in Seamus Heaney's play The Cure at Troy, a "version" of Sophocles' Philoctetes.

The legend of Philoctetes was, in part, the inspiration for Robert Silverberg's science fiction novel The Man in the Maze. In it, Philoctetes (usually referred to simply as "Phil") is a satyr and a trainer of aspiring heroes who has often been disappointed by his trainees' shortcomings. The actor Danny DeVito provided Philoctetes's voice.

Donna Jo Napoli's teen novel Sirena features a love affair between a siren and Philoctetes, interrupted when the Greeks come to retrieve him.