Philoctetes, Greek MR-10/24/07Greek legendary hero who played a
decisive part in the final stages of the Trojan War.  He (or his
father, Poeas) had been bequeathed the bow and arrows of the
Greek hero Heracles in return for lighting his funeral pyre;
Philoctetes thus became a notable archer. En route to Troy he
was incapacitated by a snakebite, and he was left behind on the
island of Lemnos. After a seer revealed that Troy could be taken
only with the aid of Heracles’ bow and arrows, the Greek
warriors Odysseus and either Diomedes or Neoptolemus went to
Philoctetes and persuaded him to accompany them to Troy. There
he was healed of his wound and killed Paris (son of Priam, king
of Troy), by which action he paved the way for the city’s fall.
He subsequently returned home but later wandered as a colonist
to southern Italy, where he ultimately died in battle.  The
theme of this story was used by the ancient Greek writer
Sophocles in his Philoctetes.