Who originally gave Philoctetes his bow and arrows?

Who originally gave Philoctetes his bow and arrows?

In the end, Philoctetes stepped up and lit the fire, thus gaining the deified hero’s favour. Before his death, Heracles offered him his fabled bow and poisoned arrows as a gift. Philoctetes was also one of the suitors of Helen, the princess of Sparta.

Who gave the bow to Philoctetes?

In the play Philoctetes, Sophocles references the myth in which no one but Philoctetes would light Heracles’ funeral pyre, and in return for this favor Heracles gave Philoctetes his bow (seen in later texts, such as Ovid’s Metamorphoses).

How did Philoctetes get his bow?

Maybe the closest: when Heracles was dying in agony, he begged his friends to put him out of his misery; Philoctetes was the only one who had the guts to do it. In gratitude, Heracles bequeathed Philoctetes his famous bow, with its arrows dipped in the poison blood of the hydra.

Why is Philoctetes bow so important?

Not only does Philoctetes have an obligation to serve the greater good of the Greeks, he also has an obligation to obey the gods and use the bow and arrows as they see fit, and so the weapons are symbols of his debt to the gods as well as his power to fend for himself.

Who had the bow of Heracles?

Philoctetes
Philoctetes, Greek 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.

Who is the protagonist of Philoctetes?

Philoctetes Character Analysis. Philoctetes is a famous Greek archer, Poeas’s son, and the protagonist of Sophocles’s Philoctetes.

What happened to Philoctetes on the journey 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.

Why did the Greeks need Philoctetes?

Having been bitten by a snake, the Greek archer Philoctetes has an incurable wound on his foot. As the war progresses, the Greeks are told of a prophecy stating they need Philoctetes to win against the Trojans for he has in his possession the bow and arrows of Heracles.

What is the function of the chorus in Philoctetes?

The chorus is a group of Greek sailors under the command of Odysseus. The chorus largely functions to advance and enrich the plot, and they are exceedingly sympathetic to Philoctetes’s pain and suffering; however, the chorus also serves to underscore Philoctetes’s isolation.

Why did Seamus Heaney write the Cure of Troy?

I was inspired to try my hand at a version of the play.” He found the dilemma Sophocles dramatized akin to one “experienced in those troubled years [of the 1980s] by people of intelligence and sensitivity, on both sides of the political divide in Northern Ireland.”

Why did Heracles give the bow and arrows to Philoctetes?

Neoptolemus does eventually give Philoctetes back the bow and arrows, but when Heracles appears at the end of the play, he makes it clear that Philoctetes must take the bow and arrows to Troy and end the Trojan War for the greater good of the Greeks.

Who was the Greek hero of the bow and arrow?

In Philoctetes (Greek Philoktētēs) the Greeks on their way to Troy have cast away the play’s main character,… 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.

When does the story of Philoctetes take place?

The play is set in the tenth year of the Trojan War, shortly after the Greeks discover that, as revealed by the oracles, they need to recruit Philoctetes and make him bring the bow and arrows of Heracles to Troy if they want to win the war.

Who was sent to bring Philoctetes back to Troy?

Odysseus and Neoptolemus have just landed on the deserted island of Lemnos where they have been sent by the Atreides to fetch Philoctetes and bring him back to Troy. Many years ago, Philoctetes was the only one brave enough to light the funeral pyre of Heracles, and, as a gift, the greatest of all heroes handed him his legendary bow and arrows.