Sophocles’
Philoctetesis the best known tragedy based on the Philoctetes myth, and the only one which has survived to the present day. However, there were some other treatments of the same myth. One of them was Aeschylus’
Philoctetes, in fact the myth’s first dramatization; unfortunately it has been lost to us. Nevertheless, this article is about the Aeschylean play.
Philoctetes was one of the original leaders of the Greek expedition against Troy. According to myth, a serpent bit his foot while he was performing a sacrifice at the altar of Chryse on Tenedos (or, according to other versions, on the island of Chryse), where the expedition had stopped on their way to Troy. The wound produced such a disagreeable odour and caused Philoctetes to so cry out in pain that the expedition
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Citation: Encinas Reguero, M. Carmen. "Philoctetes". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 October 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=37164, accessed 23 November 2024.]
