Editing Philoctetes

{{short description|Greek mythological hero}}
{{About|the mythological figure|other uses|Philoctetes (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Philoktetes Lemnos Met 56.171.58.jpg|thumb|Philoctetes at Lemnos, on an Attic [[red-figure]] [[lekythos]], ca. 420&nbsp;BC ''(Metropolitan Museum of Art)'']]
'''Philoctetes''' ({{langx|grc| Φιλοκτήτης}} ''Philoktētēs''; {{small|English pronunciation:}} {{IPAc-en|ˌ|f|ɪ|l|ə|k|ˈ|t|iː|t|iː|z}}, {{respell|FILL|ək|TEE|teez}}<ref>[[John C. Wells]], ''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary'', 3rd edition (2008), entry ''Philoctetes''.</ref>), or '''Philocthetes''', according to [[Greek mythology]], was the son of [[Poeas]], king of [[Meliboea (Magnesia)|Meliboea]] in [[Thessaly]], and [[Demonassa]]<ref>[https://latin.packhum.org/loc/1263/1/7/1840-1850,2206-2216@1#46 Hyginus, Fabulae, 102]</ref> or [[Methone (Greek myth)|Methone]].<ref>Eustathius ''ad Horn.'' p. 323</ref> He was a Greek hero, famed as an archer, and a participant in the [[Trojan War]].

Philoctetes was the subject of four different plays of ancient Greece, each written by one of the three major Greek tragedians. Of the four plays, [[Sophocles]]' ''[[Philoctetes (Sophocles play)|Philoctetes]]'' is the only one that has survived. Sophocles' ''[[Philoctetes at Troy]]'', [[Aeschylus]]' ''[[Philoctetes (Aeschylus play)|Philoctetes]]'' and [[Euripides]]' ''[[Philoctetes (Euripides play)|Philoctetes]]'' have all been lost, with the exception of some fragments. Philoctetes is also mentioned in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', Book 2, which describes his exile on the island of Lemnos, his being wounded by snake-bite, and his eventual recall by the Greeks. The recall of Philoctetes is told in the lost epic ''[[Little Iliad]]'', where his retrieval was accomplished by [[Diomedes]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Proklos|pages=3.2}}</ref>  Philoctetes killed three men at [[Troy]].<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 114.</ref>

== Description ==
Philoctetes was described by the chronicler [[John Malalas|Malalas]] in his account of the ''Chronography'' as "a good height, well set, dark skinned, eyebrows meeting, brave, good eyes, good nose, black hair, hairy, sensible, accurate archer, magnanimous".<ref>[[John Malalas|Malalas]], ''Chronography'' [https://topostext.org/work/793#5.104 5.104]</ref>

==Stories==
[[File:Remond Philoctète musée des Augustins.jpg|thumb|300px|The isolation of Philoctetes on Lemnos, as painted by [[Jean-Charles-Joseph Rémond]] (1818)]]

Philoctetes was the son of [[Poeas]], king of [[Meliboea]] in [[Thessaly]]. He came into possession of the bow and arrows of [[Heracles]] after assisting the hero in ending the agony of the [[shirt of Nessus]]—Philoctetes, or in some versions his father, lit the pyre on which Heracles immolated himself and became immortal. Philoctetes then received the favor of the newly deified Heracles.

Philoctetes had been one of the many eligible Greeks who competed for the hand of [[Helen of Troy|Helen]], the Spartan princess; as such, he was required to participate in the expedition to reclaim her for [[Menelaus]] that became the [[Trojan War]]. However, on the way to [[Troy]], Philoctetes was left behind and stranded on the island of [[Lemnos]]. There are at least four stories about what caused the Greeks to abandon Philoctetes, but in every version he received a wound on his foot that festered and had a terrible smell.

[[File:Philoktetes2.jpg|thumb|left|Philoctetes wearing a ''[[pilos]]'' cap on a bronze coin of [[Homolium]], with a coiled serpent on the reverse (350&nbsp;BC)]]
One version holds that Philoctetes was bitten by a snake that [[Hera]] sent to molest him as punishment for the service rendered to Heracles, since Hera was portrayed in one tradition as the adversary of Heracles. The snakebite recurs in a version that has the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]], en route to Troy, coming to the island of [[Ancient Tenedos|Tenedos]], where [[Achilles]] angered [[Apollo]] by killing King Tenes, allegedly the god's son.  When the Achaeans were sacrificing to Apollo in expiation, a snake came out from the altar and bit Philoctetes.

Another tradition says that the Greeks forced Philoctetes to show them where Heracles's ashes were deposited.  Philoctetes would not break his oath by speech, but he went to the spot and placed his foot upon the site.  The foot that touched the soil over the ashes immediately suffered a wound.

In a fourth version, Philoctetes received his terrible wound on the island of [[Chryse Island|Chryse]] when he unknowingly trespassed the shrine of the nymph after whom the island was named. (This is the version in the extant play by [[Sophocles]].)  A modern interpretation is that he was scratched by a poisoned arrow. Commonly tips of arrows were poisoned with a combination of fermented viper venom, blood or plasma, and feces. A person who survived would have a festering wound, though even a scratch could result in death, sometimes drawn out.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mayor|first=Adrienne|author-link=Adrienne Mayor|title=Greek Fire, Poison Arrows and Scorpion Bombs: Biological & Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M_v57ETfcvQC&q=steppe+viper+venom&pg=PT71|access-date=December 17, 2012|year=2008|publisher=[[The Overlook Press]]|location=New York|isbn=978-1-58567-348-3}}</ref>

[[File:Pierre Cabanel - Philoctète abandonné dans l'île de Lemmos.jpg|thumb|Philoctetes hunting for sustenance on Lemnos, oil painting by [[Pierre Cabanel]] (1838–1918)]]
Regardless of the cause of the wound, Philoctetes was marooned by the Greeks and harbored a grudge against  [[Odysseus]], who had advised the [[Atreidae]] to leave him. [[Medon (mythology)|Medôn]] took control of Philoctetes' men, and Philoctetes himself remained on Lemnos, alone, for ten years, as the Trojan War dragged on.

[[Helenus]], the prophetic son of King [[Priam]] of Troy, was forced under torture to reveal that one of the conditions for the Greeks to win the war was possession of the bow and arrows of Heracles. Upon hearing this, Odysseus and a group of men (usually including [[Diomedes]]) rushed back to Lemnos to recover Heracles' weapons. In the [[Greek tragedy|tragedy]] by [[Sophocles]] titled [[Philoctetes (Sophocles)|''Philoctetes'']], Odysseus is accompanied by [[Neoptolemus]], [[Achilles]]' son, also known as Pyrrhus. (Other versions of the myth don't include Neoptolemus.) Surprised to find the archer alive, the Greeks balked on what to do next. Odysseus tricked the weaponry away from Philoctetes, but Diomedes ( or Neoptolemus in ''Philoctetes'', 1373ff.) refused to take the weapons without the man. The divine Heracles came down from Olympus and told Philoctetes to go and that he would be healed by the son of Asclepius and win great honor as a hero of the Achaean army.

[[File:Brauron - Marble slab with the Recall of Philoctetes.jpg|thumb|right|Fragmentary [[relief]], before mid-2nd century AD, depicting the recall of Philoctetes ''(Archeological Museum of [[Brauron]])'']]
Once back in military company outside Troy, they employed either [[Machaon (physician)|Machaon]] the surgeon or more likely [[Podalirius]] the physician, both sons of the immortal physician [[Asclepius]], to heal his wound permanently. Philoctetes challenged and would have killed [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]], son of [[Priam]], in single combat were it not for the debates over future Greek strategy. In one version it was Philoctetes who killed Paris. He shot four times: the first arrow went wide; the second struck his bow hand; the third hit him in the right eye; the fourth hit him in the heel, so there was no need of a fifth shot. Philoctetes sided with Neoptolemus about continuing to try to storm the city. They were the only two to think so because they had not had the [[war-weariness]] of the prior ten years. Afterward, Philoctetes was among those chosen to hide inside the [[Trojan Horse]], and during the sack of the city he killed many famed Trojans.

According to another myth, Pylius (Πύλιος), the son of god [[Hephaestus]], healed Philoctetes at [[Lemnos]].<ref>[http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/photius/ptolemee.htm Photius, Bibliotheca excerpts - GR]</ref><ref>[https://topostext.org/work/237#190.48 Photius, Bibliotheca excerpts, 190.48 - EN]</ref>

A [[scholia]]st commenting on [[Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius]]'s ''[[Argonautica]]'' lists Philoctetes as one of the [[Heracles#Men|male lovers of Heracles]].<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''Argonautica'', 1. 1207</ref>

==Cult and cities==
[[File:Silver cup Hoby Philoctetes Nationalmuseet.jpg|thumb|250px|The attempt to cleanse the wounded foot of Philoctetes, depicted on a silver cup from the [[Hoby treasure]] (1st century AD)]]
The author of the [[Aristotelian Corpus]] writes that Philoctetes lived at the [[Macalla (ancient city)|Macalla]] after he returned from the Trojan War, and adds that the hero had deposited there in the temple of [[Apollo|Apollo Halius]] the bow and arrows of [[Hercules]], which had, however, been removed by the [[Crotone|Crotoniats]] to the temple of Apollo in their own city. In addition, the author mention that Philoctetes is honored among the [[Sybaris|Sybarites]].<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/246#27.107 Aristotelian Corpus, On Marvelous Things Heard, § 27.107]</ref>
According to [[Lycophron]], at Macalla the inhabitants built a great shrine above his grave and glorified him as an everlasting god with libations and sacrifice of oxen.<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/128#909 Lycophron, Alexandra, 909]</ref>

[[Justin (historian)|Justin]] writes that people say that the city of [[Thurii]] was built by Philoctetes and his monument is seen there even to his days, as well as the arrows of Hercules which laid up in the temple of Apollo.<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/226#20.1 Justin, History of the World, 20.1]</ref>

[[Gaius Julius Solinus|Solinus]], [[Strabo]] and [[Virgil]] write that [[Petilia]] was established by Philoctetes.<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/747#8.7 Solinus, Polyhistor, 2.10]</ref><ref name="Strabo 6.1.3">[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-grc1:6.1.3 Strabo, Geography, 6.1.3]</ref><ref>[https://topostext.org/work/245#3.402 Virgil, Aeneid, §3.402]</ref>

Strabo writes that also [[Krimisa]] and [[Casabona|Chone]] were established by Philoctetes.<ref name="Strabo 6.1.3"/> In addition, Strabo write that some of Philoctetes's companions fortified [[Aegesta]].<ref name="Strabo 6.1.3"/>

On a barren island near [[Lemnos]] there was an altar of Philoctetes with a brazen serpent, bows and breastplate bound with strips, to remind of the sufferings of the hero.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0551.tlg014.perseus-grc1:11.77 Appian, Mithridatic Wars, 11.77]</ref>

==Modern depictions==
[[File:Den sårede Filoktet.jpg|thumb|''Den sårede Filoktet'' ("The Wounded Philoctetes") by [[Nicolai Abildgaard]] (oil on canvas, 1775)]]

===Drama===
* The legend of Philoctetes was used by [[André Gide]] in his play ''Philoctète''.
* The [[German Democratic Republic|East German]] [[Postmodernism|postmodern]] dramatist [[Heiner Müller]] produced a successful adaptation of Sophocles' [[Philoctetes (Sophocles)|play]] in 1968 in [[Munich]]. It became one of his most-performed plays.
* ''[[The Cure at Troy]]'' (1991) is an [[The Cure at Troy#Themes|often-quoted]] adaptation of Sophocles' tragedy by Nobel laureate [[Seamus Heaney]].

===Poetry===
*The myth of Philoctetes is the inspiration for William Wordsworth's sonnet "When Philoctetes in the Lemnian Isle," though here the thematic focus is not the Greek warrior's magical bow or gruesome injury, but his abandonment. The poem is about the companionship and solace provided by Nature when all human society has been withdrawn.

[[File:Guillaume Guillon-Lethiere, Philoctetes on the Island of Lemnos.jpg|thumb|''Philoctetes on the Island of Lemnos'' by [[Guillaume Guillon-Lethière]]]]

===Painting===
*''Philoctetes on the Island of Lemnos'' by [[James Barry (painter)|James Barry]], 1770, From A Series of Etchings by James Barry, Esq. from his Original and Justly Celebrated Paintings, in the Great Room of the Society of Arts.
*''The Wounded Philoctetes'' by [[Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard]], 1775, now in the [[Statens Museum for Kunst]] in [[Copenhagen]], which is also used as the front cover for the Penguin Classics edition of the novel ''Frankenstein'' by Mary Shelley. ([https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-wounded-philoctetes/UQEnGn16f_kg-g Image]).
*''Philoctetes on Lemnos'' by [[Jean Germain Drouais]], 1788, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in [[Chartres]] ([http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Philoctetes.jpg Image]).

===Sculpture===
*''Wounded Philoctetes'' by [[Herman Wilhelm Bissen]], now in the [[Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek]] in Copenhagen ([http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/conway/62114807.html Image]).

==See also==
*[[Pythagoras (of Rhegium)]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline|Philoctetes}}
{{Characters in the Iliad}}

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[[Category:Achaean Leaders]]
[[Category:Ancient Lemnos]]
[[Category:Argonauts]]
[[Category:Male lovers of Heracles]]
[[Category:Mythological Greek archers]]
[[Category:Mythological Thessalians]]
[[Category:Mythology of Heracles]]
[[Category:People of the Trojan War]]
[[Category:Thessalians in the Trojan War]]