The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Index Database

Results for
Please note: the results are produced through a computerized process which may frequently lead to errors, both in incorrect tagging and in other issues. Please use with caution.
Due to load times, full text fetching is currently attempted for validated results only.
Full texts for Hebrew Bible and rabbinic texts is kindly supplied by Sefaria; for Greek and Latin texts, by Perseus Scaife, for the Quran, by Tanzil.net

For a list of book indices included, see here.

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All subjects (including unvalidated):

subject	book bibliographic info
philoctetes	Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 54, 55 Ebrey and Kraut (2022), The Cambridge Companion to Plato, 2nd ed, 79 Finkelberg (2019), Homer and Early Greek Epic: Collected Essays, 177, 229, 271 Gazis and Hooper (2021), Aspects of Death and the Afterlife in Greek Literature, 106, 107, 108, 109, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120 Jouanna (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, 67, 70, 71, 88, 90 Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 133, 134, 135, 165, 176, 179, 527, 528, 529, 530, 531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622 Ker and Wessels (2020), The Values of Nighttime in Classical Antiquity: Between Dusk and Dawn, 297, 298 Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 268 Meister (2019), Greek Praise Poetry and the Rhetoric of Divinity, 77 Naiden (2013), Smoke Signals for the Gods: Ancient Greek Sacrifice from the Archaic through Roman Periods, 149, 152 Rutledge (2012), Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting, 111 Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 49, 89 Trapp et al. (2016), In Praise of Asclepius: Selected Prose Hymns, 55 Verhelst and Scheijnens (2022), Greek and Latin Poetry of Late Antiquity: Form, Tradition, and Context, 40 Williams and Vol (2022), Philosophy in Ovid, Ovid as Philosopher, 203, 281
philoctetes, aeschylus	Jouanna (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, 74, 90 Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 175, 176, 462, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622
philoctetes, aeschylus, and, sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 175, 176, 528, 529, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622
philoctetes, and alcibiades, lebeau le cadet, m., on	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 51, 58, 640
philoctetes, and helenus	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 374, 375
philoctetes, and heracles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 363, 364, 365, 366
philoctetes, and neoptolemus	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 328, 329, 330
philoctetes, and odysseus	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 331, 332
philoctetes, and oedipus	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 359, 360
philoctetes, and sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 642
philoctetes, and tragic irony	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 413
philoctetes, anger, of	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 530, 531, 532, 533
philoctetes, aristophanes, on, sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 535
philoctetes, arrival of	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 262
philoctetes, as an epic hero	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 321, 325, 326, 327, 328
philoctetes, at troy philoktetes ho en troia, sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 608
philoctetes, awakening, of	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 447
philoctetes, characters, of sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 529
philoctetes, characters, tragic/mythical	Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 41, 57, 109, 231, 267, 268, 322
philoctetes, chorus, the, and	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 448
philoctetes, chrestomathy, proclus, and, sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 528
philoctetes, cyprian songs, and, sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 528
philoctetes, deception, and	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 58, 134, 135, 168, 328, 329, 330, 374, 375, 446, 597, 722
philoctetes, dio, john, chrysostom, on	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 176, 462, 529, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622
philoctetes, editions, of sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 535
philoctetes, emotions, of	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 447, 448, 449
philoctetes, episodes, of sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 530, 531, 532, 533
philoctetes, euripides	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 462, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622
philoctetes, euripides, and, sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 529, 530, 531
philoctetes, euripides, dramas by	Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 179
philoctetes, euripides, works	Jouanna (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, 74
philoctetes, exodos, of sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 533, 534, 535
philoctetes, general parodos, of sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 529, 530
philoctetes, helenus, and	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 54, 57, 75
philoctetes, heracles, and	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 56, 57, 58, 75, 135, 165, 179, 448, 449, 621
philoctetes, homer, and	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 619, 620, 621
philoctetes, in the exodos	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 269
philoctetes, lemnians, in	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 619
philoctetes, little iliad, and	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 176, 528, 529, 608
philoctetes, misfortunes, of	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 326, 327, 328
philoctetes, nature, of	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 359, 360
philoctetes, neoptolemus, and	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 56, 57, 325, 326, 365, 366, 446, 447, 448, 621
philoctetes, nobility, of	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 325, 326, 327, 328
philoctetes, odysseus, and	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 54, 56, 57, 176, 326, 327, 446, 447, 448, 618, 619, 620, 621
philoctetes, peripeteia, in sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 531, 532
philoctetes, philoctetes, sophocles, and, aeschylus	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 175, 176
philoctetes, philologist, galen as	Jouanna (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, 289, 290, 291, 292, 295, 296
philoctetes, pindar, and	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 56, 528
philoctetes, proclus, and	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 528, 608
philoctetes, prologue, of sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 529, 530
philoctetes, pythian odes, and, sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 528
philoctetes, resentment, of	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 448, 449
philoctetes, return of pfeiffer, rudolf	Greensmith (2021), The Resurrection of Homer in Imperial Greek Epic: Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica and the Poetics of Impersonation, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321
philoctetes, role of	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 208, 209, 238, 239, 249
philoctetes, savageness, of	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 326
philoctetes, sequence, mythic, of sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 527, 528, 529
philoctetes, setting, of sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 527
philoctetes, sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 165, 462, 527, 528, 529, 530, 531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622 Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 245, 267, 268
philoctetes, sophocles, actors in	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 208, 209, 210
philoctetes, sophocles, and alcibiades	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 640, 641, 642
philoctetes, sophocles, and chronology	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 133, 134, 135
philoctetes, sophocles, and mythos	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 114
philoctetes, sophocles, and neoptolemus’s nature	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 352
philoctetes, sophocles, and odysseus	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 168
philoctetes, sophocles, and pity	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 368
philoctetes, sophocles, and scyros	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 597
philoctetes, sophocles, and social hierarchy	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 316
philoctetes, sophocles, and the exodos	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 269
philoctetes, sophocles, and the mechane	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 238, 239
philoctetes, sophocles, and the stage building	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 217, 218, 219
philoctetes, sophocles, and tragic discovery	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 413, 446, 447, 448, 449
philoctetes, sophocles, and versification	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 249, 250, 251, 252
philoctetes, sophocles, and virtual characters	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 318
philoctetes, sophocles, characters in	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 199, 200, 201
philoctetes, sophocles, dramas by	Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 174, 180, 215
philoctetes, sophocles, epic heroes in	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 325, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333
philoctetes, sophocles, episodes in	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 262, 263, 264, 265
philoctetes, sophocles, heracles in	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 133, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 375
philoctetes, sophocles, on asclepius	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 74, 75, 179
philoctetes, sophocles, preface to	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 90, 91
philoctetes, sophocles, seer in	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 371, 374, 375
philoctetes, sophocles, surprise in	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 342
philoctetes, sophocles, the chorus in	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 390
philoctetes, sophocles, works	Jouanna (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, 67
philoctetes, stasima, of sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 532, 533
philoctetes, structure, of sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 529, 530, 531, 532, 533, 534, 535
philoctetes, subject, of sophocles	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 527
philoctetes, suicide, of	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 327
philoctetes, troy, and	Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 54, 56, 57, 75, 134, 135, 176, 365, 366, 374, 375, 446, 447, 448, 449
philoctetes’, return, iliad	Greensmith (2021), The Resurrection of Homer in Imperial Greek Epic: Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica and the Poetics of Impersonation, 319, 320

List of validated texts:

15 validated results for "philoctetes"

1. Homer, Iliad, 2.718-2.725, 2.731 (8th cent. BCE - 7th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Helenus, and Philoctetes • Iliad, Philoctetes’ return • Odysseus, and Philoctetes • Pfeiffer, Rudolf, Philoctetes, return of • Philoctetes • Philoctetes (Sophocles), and Alcibiades • Philoctetes, Neoptolemus • Philoctetes, use of myth • Sophocles, works,, Philoctetes • Troy, and Philoctetes

Found in books: Budelmann (1999), The Language of Sophocles: Communality, Communication, and Involvement, 102; Greensmith (2021), The Resurrection of Homer in Imperial Greek Epic: Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica and the Poetics of Impersonation, 319; Jouanna (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, 67; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 54; Ker and Wessels (2020), The Values of Nighttime in Classical Antiquity: Between Dusk and Dawn, 298; Trapp et al. (2016), In Praise of Asclepius: Selected Prose Hymns, 55

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2.718 τῶν δὲ Φιλοκτήτης ἦρχεν τόξων ἐῢ εἰδὼς ^2.719 ἑπτὰ νεῶν· ἐρέται δʼ ἐν ἑκάστῃ πεντήκοντα ^2.720 ἐμβέβασαν τόξων εὖ εἰδότες ἶφι μάχεσθαι. ^2.721 ἀλλʼ ὃ μὲν ἐν νήσῳ κεῖτο κρατέρʼ ἄλγεα πάσχων ^2.722 Λήμνῳ ἐν ἠγαθέῃ, ὅθι μιν λίπον υἷες Ἀχαιῶν ^2.723 ἕλκεϊ μοχθίζοντα κακῷ ὀλοόφρονος ὕδρου· ^2.724 ἔνθʼ ὅ γε κεῖτʼ ἀχέων· τάχα δὲ μνήσεσθαι ἔμελλον ^2.731 τῶν αὖθʼ ἡγείσθην Ἀσκληπιοῦ δύο παῖδε' ' None

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2.718 even she, the comeliest of the daughters of Pelias.And they that dwelt in Methone and Thaumacia, and that held Meliboea and rugged Olizon, these with their seven ships were led by Philoctetes, well-skilled in archery, ^2.720 and on each ship embarked fifty oarsmen well skilled to fight amain with the bow. But Philoctetes lay suffering grievous pains in an island, even in sacred Lemnos, where the sons of the Achaeans had left him in anguish with an evil wound from a deadly water-snake. There he lay suffering; ^2.720 yet full soon were the Argives beside their ships to bethink them of king Philoctetes. Howbeit neither were these men leaderless, though they longed for their leader; but Medon marshalled them, the bastard son of Oïleus, whom Rhene bare to Oïleus, sacker of cities.And they that held Tricca and Ithome of the crags, ^2.731 and Oechalia, city of Oechalian Eurytus, these again were led by the two sons of Asclepius, the skilled leeches Podaleirius and Machaon. And with these were ranged thirty hollow ships. ' ' None

2. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aeschylus, and Philoctetes (Sophocles) • Chrestomathy (Proclus), and Philoctetes (Sophocles) • Cyprian Songs, and Philoctetes (Sophocles) • Little Iliad, and Philoctetes • Philoctetes • Philoctetes (Sophocles) • Pindar, and Philoctetes • Proclus, and Philoctetes • Pythian Odes, and Philoctetes (Sophocles) • sequence, mythic, of Philoctetes (Sophocles)

Found in books: Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 55; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 528

3. Sophocles, Antigone, 523 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Philoctetes (Sophocles), actors in • Philoctetes, False Merchant scene • Philoctetes, role of

Found in books: Budelmann (1999), The Language of Sophocles: Communality, Communication, and Involvement, 54; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 208

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523 It is not my nature to join in hate, but in love.'' None

4. Sophocles, Oedipus The King, 660-662 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Philoctetes • Philoctetes (Sophocles), episodes in

Found in books: Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 264; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 89

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660 No, by the god that stands at the head of all the host of the gods, no, by the sun. Unblest, unbefriended, may I die the worst possible death, if I have this thought!'⁶⁶¹ No, by the god that stands at the head of all the host of the gods, no, by the sun. Unblest, unbefriended, may I die the worst possible death, if I have this thought! ' None

5. Sophocles, Philoctetes, 1-11, 14-15, 31, 50-51, 54-55, 72-73, 82-134, 191-200, 212-218, 285-295, 300-304, 313-316, 343-460, 468-503, 507-521, 533, 554-556, 561-602, 610-619, 622-630, 635-637, 662-670, 677-699, 745, 799-805, 817-818, 839-842, 855-861, 895, 902-903, 946-947, 952-958, 1016-1034, 1049, 1054-1062, 1116-1117, 1140-1145, 1155-1157, 1165-1167, 1244, 1246, 1314-1347, 1362-1366, 1409-1444 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aeschylus, Philoctetes • Aeschylus, and Philoctetes (Sophocles) • Dio (John) Chrysostom, on Philoctetes • Euripides, Philoctetes • Euripides, and Philoctetes (Sophocles) • Helenus, and Philoctetes • Heracles, and Philoctetes • Lebeau le cadet, M., on Philoctetes and Alcibiades • Little Iliad, and Philoctetes • Neoptolemus, and Philoctetes • Odysseus, and Philoctetes • Odysseus, his character in Philoctetes • Philoctetes • Philoctetes (Sophocles) • Philoctetes (Sophocles), Heracles in • Philoctetes (Sophocles), actors in • Philoctetes (Sophocles), and Alcibiades • Philoctetes (Sophocles), and Odysseus • Philoctetes (Sophocles), and Scyros • Philoctetes (Sophocles), and chronology • Philoctetes (Sophocles), and the mechane • Philoctetes (Sophocles), and tragic discovery • Philoctetes (Sophocles), epic heroes in • Philoctetes (Sophocles), episodes in • Philoctetes (Sophocles), on Asclepius • Philoctetes (Sophocles), seer in • Philoctetes, False Merchant scene • Philoctetes, Helenus' prophecy • Philoctetes, Lemnos uninhabited • Philoctetes, Neoptolemus • Philoctetes, Odysseus • Philoctetes, and Helenus • Philoctetes, and Heracles • Philoctetes, and Neoptolemus • Philoctetes, and Odysseus • Philoctetes, and Sophocles • Philoctetes, and tragic irony • Philoctetes, as an epic hero • Philoctetes, ending • Philoctetes, role of • Philoctetes, use of myth • Philoktetes ho en Troia, Philoctetes at Troy (Sophocles) • Proclus, and Philoctetes • Sophocles, Philoctetes • Sophocles, works, Philoctetes • Sophocles, works,, Philoctetes • Troy, and Philoctetes • Tyrannus, Philoctetes • anger, of Philoctetes • characters, of Philoctetes (Sophocles) • characters, tragic/mythical, Philoctetes • deception, and Philoctetes • episodes, of Philoctetes (Sophocles) • exodos, of Philoctetes (Sophocles) • general parodos, of Philoctetes (Sophocles) • misfortunes, of Philoctetes • nobility, of Philoctetes • noble lie, in Philoctetes • peripeteia, in Philoctetes (Sophocles) • prologue, of Philoctetes (Sophocles) • savageness, of Philoctetes • sequence, mythic, of Philoctetes (Sophocles) • setting, of Philoctetes (Sophocles) • stasima, of Philoctetes (Sophocles) • structure, of Philoctetes (Sophocles) • subject, of Philoctetes (Sophocles)

Found in books: Budelmann (1999), The Language of Sophocles: Communality, Communication, and Involvement, 54, 55, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 188; Finkelberg (2019), Homer and Early Greek Epic: Collected Essays, 229; Gazis and Hooper (2021), Aspects of Death and the Afterlife in Greek Literature, 106, 107, 108, 109, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120; Hesk (2000), Deception and Democracy in Classical Athens, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199; Jouanna (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, 67, 88, 90; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 57, 58, 75, 134, 168, 208, 238, 239, 264, 325, 326, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 362, 365, 366, 374, 375, 413, 446, 527, 529, 530, 531, 532, 533, 534, 597, 608, 641, 642; Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 57, 267; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 92, 93; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 61, 107, 126, 145, 327; Naiden (2013), Smoke Signals for the Gods: Ancient Greek Sacrifice from the Archaic through Roman Periods, 149; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 89

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1 This is the headland of sea-washed Lemnos , land untrodden by men and desolate. It was here, child bred of the man who was the noblest of the Greeks, Neoptolemus son of Achilles, that I exposed'² This is the headland of sea-washed Lemnos , land untrodden by men and desolate. It was here, child bred of the man who was the noblest of the Greeks, Neoptolemus son of Achilles, that I exposed ⁵ long ago the native of Malis, Poeas’ son, on the express command of the two chieftains to do so, because his foot was all running with a gnawing disease. Neither libation nor burnt sacrifice could be attempted by us in peace, but with his wild, ill-omened crie ¹⁰ he filled the whole camp continually with shrieking, moaning. But what need is there to speak of that? The time is not ripe for too many words, lest he even learn that I am here, and I so waste the whole ruse whereby I think soon to take him. ¹⁵ Come, it is your task to serve as my ally in what remains, and to seek where in this region there is a cave with two mouths. During cold weather it provides two seats facing the sun, while in summer a breeze wafts sleep through the tunnelled chamber. ^3
1 I see an empty dwelling, without occupants. Odysseu ⁵⁰ Son of Achilles, you must be loyal to the goals of your mission—and not with your body alone. Should you hear some new plan unknown to you till now, you must serve it, since it is to serve that you are here. Neoptolemu ⁵⁵ told as you converse with him. When he asks you who and from where you are, say that you are the son of Achilles—it is not in that detail that you will cheat him. But tell him you are sailing homeward, and have left the fleet of the Achaean warriors, after coming to hate them with unbounded hatred. ⁷² And learn why your intercourse with him may be free from mistrust and danger, while mine cannot. You have sailed to Troy under no oath to any man, nor under any constraint. Neither did you have any part in the earlier expedition. I, however, can deny none of these things. Accordingly, if he ⁸² to utter or contrive such treachery. Yet knowing that victory is a sweet prize to gain, steel yourself to do it. Our honesty shall be displayed another time. Now, however, give yourself to me for one brief, shameless day, and then for the rest of time ⁸⁵ may you be called the most righteous of all humankind. Neoptolemu ⁸⁶ I abhor acting on advice, son of Laertes , which causes pain in the hearing. It is not in my nature to achieve anything by means of evil cunning, nor was it, as I hear, in my father’s. ⁹⁰ But I am ready to take the man by force and without treachery, since with the use of one foot only, he will not overcome so many of us in a struggle. And yet I was sent to assist you and am reluctant to be called traitor. Still I prefer, my king, ⁹⁵ to fail when doing what is honorable than to be victorious in a dishonorable manner. Odysseu ⁹⁶ Son of a father so noble, I, too, in my youth once had a slow tongue and an active hand. But now that I have come forth to the test, I see that the tongue, not action, is what masters everything among men. Neoptolemu ¹⁰⁰ What, then, are your orders—apart from my lying? Odysseu ^10
1 I command you to take Philoctetes by deceit. Neoptolemu ¹⁰² And why by deceit rather than by persuasion? Odysseu ¹⁰³ He will never listen; and by force you cannot take him. Neoptolemu ¹⁰⁴ Has he strength so terrific to make him bold? Odysseu ¹⁰⁵ Yes, shafts inevitable, escorts of death. Neoptolemu ¹⁰⁶ Then one does not dare even approach him? Odysseu ¹⁰⁷ No, unless he takes the man by deceit, as I prescribe. Neoptolemu ¹⁰⁸ Then you think it brings no shame to speak what is false? Odysseu ¹⁰⁹ No, not if the falsehood yields deliverance. Neoptolemu ^1
10 And with what expression on his face will anyone dare mouth those lies? Odysseu ^1
1
1 When what you do promises gain, it is wrong to shrink back. Neoptolemu ^1
12 And what gain is it for me that he should come to Troy ? Odysseu ^1
13 His arrows alone will capture Troy . Neoptolemu ^1

14 Then I am not to be the conqueror, as you said? Odysseu ^1
15 Neither will you be without them, nor they without you. Neoptolemu ^1
16 It would seem, then, that we must track them down, if things stand as you say. Odysseu ^1
17 Know that by doing this task, you win two rewards. Neoptolemu ^1
18 What are they? If I knew, I would not refuse the deed. Odysseu ^1
19 You will be celebrated in the same breath as clever and as noble. Neoptolemu ¹²⁰ So be it! I will do it, and cast off all shame. Odysseu ^12
1 Do you remember, then, the story that I recommended? Neoptolemu ¹²² Be sure of it, since once and for all I have consented. Odysseu ¹²³ You stay here, then, to wait for him. Meanwhile I will go away, so as not to be observed here with you, ¹²⁵ and I will send our lookout back to your ship. And, if in my view you seem to linger at all beyond the due time, I will send that same man back again, after disguising him as the captain of a merchant-ship, so that secrecy may be on our side. ¹³⁰ Then, son, as he tells his artful story, take whatever in his tale is from time to time helpful to you. Now I will go to the ship, leaving matters here to you. May escorting Hermes the Deceiver, lead us on, and divine Victory, Athena Polias, who saves me always! Exit Odysseus, on the spectators’ left. Choru ^19
1 No part of this is a marvel to me. God-sent—if a man such as I may judge—are both those sufferings which attacked him from savage Chryse , ¹⁹⁵ and those with which he now toils untended. Surely he toils by the plan of some god so that he may not bend against Troy the invincible arrows divine, until the time be fulfilled at which, men say, ²⁰⁰ by those arrows Troy is fated to fall. Choru ^2
12 To my latest thoughts. For he is not far from his home, but nearby. And not with music of the flute, like a shepherd pasturing his flocks, does he come,— ^2
15 no—but crying out a far-sounding howl as he stumbles, perhaps, from tortuous pain, or as he scans the haven unvisited by any ship. His cries are loud, and terrible. Enter Philoctetes, on the spectators’ right. Philoctete ²⁸⁵ So time passed for me, season by season, and alone in this narrow house, I had to attend to all my wants by my own resources. For my stomach’s needs this bow provided, bringing down doves on the wing. And whatever my string-sped arrow might strike, ²⁹⁰ in pain I would crawl to it myself, dragging my wretched foot behind me. Or, again, if water had to be fetched, or, if when the frost had spread, as often happens in winter, a bit of firewood had to be broken, I would creep out in pain and ²⁹⁵ manage it. Then fire would be lacking; but by rubbing stone hard on stone I would at last reveal the hidden spark which preserves me from day to day. Indeed, a roof over my head and a fire inside provides all that I want—except release from my disease. ³⁰⁰ Come now, son, you must understand what sort of island this is. No mariner approaches it by choice, since there is no anchorage or port where he can find a gainful market or a kindly host. This is not a place to which prudent men voyage. But suppose that some one has put in against his will, for such things may often ^3
13 But there is one thing that no one will do, whenever I mention it: take me home in safety. No, this is already the tenth year that I am wasted by misery from hunger and suffering, by feeding this gluttonous plague. This is what the Atreids and the forceful Odysseus have done to me, boy. ^3
15 May the gods on Olympus someday give them agonies as strong in requital for mine! Choru ³⁴³ They came for me in a ship elaborately ornamented, shining Odysseus, and he who fostered my father, ³⁴⁵ and said—whether truly or falsely, I do not know—that since my father had perished, fate now forbade that anyone but I should take the towers of Troy . Saying that this, my friend, was how things stood, they caused me no long delay before I set sail in haste, ^3
50 chiefly because of my yearning for the dead, that I might look upon him before burial, since I had never seen him. Then, besides, theirs was a fine promise, if by accompanying them I might sack the towers of Troy . It was now the second day of my voyage ³⁵⁵ when, sped by breeze and oar, I approached bitter Sigeum. When I landed, straightaway the entire army thronged around me with greetings, vowing that they saw their lost Achilles once more alive. He, though, lay ready for burial, and I, unhappy, ³⁶⁰ when I had wept for him, went before long to the Atreids, to friends, as it was reasonable to suppose,—and claimed my father’s arms and all else that had been his. O, their reply was bold and shameless! Seed of Achilles, you may take all else that was your father’s. But of those arms another man now is lord, the son of Laertes . ³⁶⁷ The tears came quick to my eyes as I sprang up in passionate anger and said in my bitterness, Madman! Have you dared give my arms to another man in my place, without asking me? But Odysseus—for he chanced to be at hand—said, Yes, boy, they awarded them as was just, since it was I who saved the arms and their master by my presence at the crucial moment. Then immediately, in my fury, I began to lash at him with every kind of insult ³⁷⁵ and left not one unsaid, if he was indeed to rob me of my arms. At this point, stung by the abuse, though not given to anger, he answered,— You have not gone to where we have; instead you have been absent from where you were needed. And since your tongue is so arrogant, you will never sail back to Scyros with those arms in your possession. In that way rebuked, in that way insulted, I sail for home, deprived of what is my own by that worst offspring of a wicked line, Odysseus. ³⁸⁵ And yet I do not blame him as much as I do those in power. For a city hangs wholly on its leaders, and so does an army, but when men shatter law and order, it is the lessons of their teachers that corrupt them. My tale is told in full. May he who hates the Atreid ³⁹⁰ be as dear to the gods as he is to me! Choru ^39
1 Goddess of the hills, Earth all-nourishing, mother of Zeus himself, you through whose realm the great Pactolu ³⁹⁵ rolls golden sands! There, there also, dread Mother, I called upon your name, when all the insults of the Atreids landed upon this man, when they handed over his father’s armor, that sublime marvel, ⁴⁰⁰ to the son of Laertes . Hear it, blessed queen, who rides on bull-slaughtering lions! Philoctete ⁴⁰³ It seems that you have come to me, friends, well commended by a grief that matches my own. ⁴⁰⁵ Your story is in harmony with mine, so that I can recognize the work of the Atreids and of Odysseus. For well I know that he would put his tongue to any base tale and to any mischief-making, if thereby he could hope to accomplish something criminal in the end. ^4
10 No, that is not at all a wonder to me, but rather that the elder Ajax, if he was there, could bear to see this. Neoptolemu ^4
12 Ah, friend, he was no longer alive—I would never have been plundered like that while he lived. Philoctete ^4

14 What do you say? Is he, too, dead and gone? Neoptolemu ^4
15 Think of him as of one who sees the sun’s light no more. Philoctete ^4
16 Oh, no! But the son of Tydeus, and Sisyphus’ offspring that was bought by Laertes—they will not die, since they do not deserve to live! Neoptolemu ^4
19 No, indeed, be sure of it. On the contrary, they prosper now ⁴²⁰ —yes, and greatly—in the Argive army. Philoctete ^42
1 And what of my brave old friend, Nestor of Pylos—is he not alive? He often checked the crimes of those two, if not others, by his sage counsels. Neoptolemu ⁴²⁴ He has his own troubles now, since Antilochus, ⁴²⁵ the son that was at his side, left him for Hades. Philoctete ⁴²⁶ Ah, me! These two, again, whom you have named, are men of whose death I had least wished to hear. Gods! What are we to look for, when these men have died, but Odysseus here again lives, when ⁴³⁰ in their place he should have been announced as dead? Neoptolemu ^43
1 The man is a clever wrestler. But even clever schemes, Philoctetes, are often blocked. Philoctete ⁴³³ Now, by the gods, tell me—where was Patroclus when you needed him, he whom your father loved beyond all others? Neoptolemu ⁴³⁵ He, too, was dead. And in a brief maxim I would teach you this: War takes no evil man by choice, but always the good men. Philoctete ⁴³⁸ I will attest to that, and with that very truth in mind, I will ask you how fares a man of little worth, but sharp of tongue and clever. Neoptolemu ⁴⁴⁰ Surely the man of whom you ask is no one but Odysseus? Philoctete ^44
1 I did not mean him; there was one Thersites, who could never be content to speak once and briefly, even though no one wanted him to speak at all. Do you know if he is alive? Neoptolemu ⁴⁴⁵ I never saw him, but I heard that he is still alive. Philoctete ⁴⁴⁶ He would be—no evil thing has ever been known to perish. No, the gods take excellent care of their kind. They find a strange joy in turning back from Hades all things criminal ^4
50 and crooked, while they are always dispatching the just and the good from life. How am I to regard these doings? How can I praise them, when in the very act of praising the ways of the gods, I find that the gods are evil? Neoptolemu ⁴⁵³ I, at least, son of Oetean Poeas, will be on my guard hereafter against Ilium ⁴⁵⁵ and the Atreids, and look on them only from afar. And where the worse man is stronger than the good, where nobility goes to ruin and the vile man dominates—among such men I will never make my friends. No, rocky Scyros shall suffice for me ⁴⁶⁰ from now on to make me delight in my home. Now to my ship! And you, son of Poeas, farewell—as best you can, farewell! May the gods free you of your disease, just as you wish! But we must be going, so that we ⁴⁶⁸ Now by your father and by your mother, son, by all that you cherish at home— ⁴⁷⁰ I solemnly supplicate you, do not leave me alone like this, helpless amid these miseries in which I live, so harsh as you see, and so numerous as I have said! Consider me a small side-task. Great i ⁴⁷⁵ your disgust, well I know, at such a cargo. Yet bear with it all the same—to noble minds baseness is hateful, and a good deed is glorious. If you forsake this task, you will have a stain on your honor; but if you perform it, boy, you will win the prize of highest honor—if I return alive to Oeta’s soil. ⁴⁸⁰ Come, the trouble will not last one full day. Endure it, take me and throw me where you will—in the hold, the prow, the stern, wherever I will least annoy my shipmates. Say yes, by the great god of suppliants, son; ⁴⁸⁵ be persuaded! I supplicate you at your knees, I am an infirm wretch, and lame! Do not leave me desolate like this, far from the paths of mankind! No, bring me safely to your own home, or to Euboea , Chalcodon’s seat; ⁴⁹⁰ and from there it will be no long journey for me to Oeta and the Trachinian heights, and fair-flowing Spercheius, so that you may show me to my beloved father, though long I have feared that he may have departed me. For often ⁴⁹⁵ did I summon him by means of those who came here, sending imploring prayers that he would himself send a ship and get me safely home. But either he is dead, or else, as I think is likely, my messengers thought my concerns of little account and hurried on their homeward voyage. ⁵⁰⁰ Now, however, since in you I have found one who can be both an escort and a messenger, save me and show me mercy, keeping in mind that all human destiny is full of the fear and the danger that prosperity may be followed by its opposite. He who stands clear of trouble must beware of dangers, ⁵⁰⁷ Have pity, my king! He has told of a struggle with sufferings manifold and oppressive—may the like befall no friend of mine! ^5
10 And if, my king, you hate the hateful Atreids, then, turning their wrongdoing to this man’s gain, ^5
15 I would take him in your swift, well-rigged ship to the home for which he longs, and so escape the god’s just wrath. Neoptolemu ^5
19 Though now as a casual spectator you are compliant, ⁵²⁰ beware lest later, when filled with his disease by its constant company, you prove no longer constant to these sentiments. Choru ⁵³³ O day of joy unsurpassed! Most delightful man, and you good sailors! If only I could show you in deeds what a true friend you have made in me! Let us be going, my son, when we two have made a solemn farewell to my homeless home inside, so that you may also learn ^5
54 were all of your crew, I resolved not to continue my voyage in silence, without first giving you my news and getting the due reward. You know nothing, I suspect, of your own affairs: the new designs the Greek ⁵⁵⁵ have regarding you, and not only designs, but deeds in progress and no longer postponed. Neoptolemu ^56
1 Pursuers are on the way in search of you with a fleet. They are the aged Phoenix and the sons of Theseus. Neoptolemu ⁵⁶³ To bring me back by force, or through persuasion? Merchant ⁵⁶⁴ I do not know; but I have come to tell you what I did hear. Neoptolemu ⁵⁶⁵ Are Phoenix and his comrades really so eager to do this favor for the Atreids? Merchant ⁵⁶⁷ Be sure that it is being done, and without delay. Neoptolemu ⁵⁶⁸ Then why was Odysseus not ready to sail on this mission, and bring the message himself? Or did some fear hold him back? Merchant ⁵⁷⁰ Oh, he and the son of Tydeus were readying for pursuit of another man, just as I was leaving port. Neoptolemu ^5
72 Who is this other after whom Odysseus himself was sailing? Merchant ⁵⁷³ There was a man. . . . But tell me first who that is over there. And whatever you say, do speak quietly. Neoptolemu ⁵⁷⁵ There, sir, before your eyes is the renowned Philoctetes. Merchant ⁵⁷⁶ Then do not question me further, but get yourself out of here as quickly as possible and sail away. Philoctete ⁵⁷⁸ What is he saying, boy? Why does the sailor traffic with you about me in these dark whispers? Neoptolemu ⁵⁸⁰ His meaning yet eludes me. But, whatever he will say, he must say openly—to you, me and my men here. Merchant ^5
82 Seed of Achilles, do not stir the army’s resentment against me for saying what I should not. I receive many benefits for what services I do them, as a poor man may. Neoptolemu ⁵⁸⁵ I am the enemy of the Atreids, and this man is my closest friend precisely because he hates them. Since, then, you have come kindly disposed towards me, you must not hide from us any part of their plans that you have heard. Merchant ^59
1 I will. It is after this man that those two whom I named to you, Diomedes and forceful Odysseus, are sailing. They are oath-bound to retrieve him, either by winning words or by overpowering might. ⁵⁹⁵ And all the Achaeans heard this clearly from the mouth Odysseus, for his confidence of success in this action was higher than his comrade’s. Neoptolemu ⁵⁹⁸ And for the sake of what did the Atreids after so long a time turn their thoughts so urgently towards this man, ⁶⁰⁰ whom they were long since keeping an outcast? What was the desire that came over them, or what force? What avenging spirit sent by the gods to exact payment for evil deeds? Merchant ^6
10 Helenus then prophesied for them whatever matter they asked, and, pertaining to Troy , he foretold that they would never sack its towers, unless by winning words they should bring Philoctetes here from the island where he now dwells. And, as soon as he heard the seer prophecy this, Laertes ’ son ^6
15 immediately promised that he would bring the man and show him to the Achaeans. He thought it most likely that he would get him willingly, but, if unwilling, then by force, and he added that, were he to fail in this, whoever wished it might sever his head. ⁶²² Alas! Has he, the utter plague, sworn to fetch me back to the Achaeans by persuasion? For if that were to happen, I could be persuaded, when dead, to come back up ⁶²⁵ from Hades into the light, as his father did! Merchant ⁶²⁶ I know nothing about that. But for my part I must return to ship, while for you I pray that god may help you in every possible way. Exit Merchant. Philoctete ⁶²⁸ Now is it not astounding, boy, that Odysseus would ever have expected by means of soft word ⁶³⁰ to lead me from his ship and show me in the middle of the Greeks? No! I would sooner listen to that greatest and worst of my enemies, the viper which made me crippled as I am! But there is nothing that he would not say or dare. And now I know that he is coming here. ⁶³⁵ Come, son, let us be moving, so that a wide sea may part us from the ship of Odysseus. Let us go! Good speed in good season brings sleep and rest when toil is finished. Neoptolemu ⁶⁶² Your words are reverent, son, and your wish is lawful. For you alone have given to my eyes the light of life and the hope of seeing the land of Oeta, of seeing ⁶⁶⁵ my aged father and my friends; and you alone, when I lay beneath the feet of my enemies, have lifted me beyond their reach. Be bold. The bow shall be yours to handle and to return to the hand that gave it, and you will be able to boast aloud that in reward for your goodness, you alone of mortals have touched it. ⁶⁷⁰ Yes, it was by a good deed that I myself won it. Neoptolemu ⁶⁷⁷ I have heard a rumor, but never seen with my eyes, how the man who once approached the bed of Zeus was bound upon a ⁶⁸⁰ wift wheel by the almighty son of Cronus. But of no other mortal do I know, either by hearsay or by sight, that has encountered a doom so repugt as this of Philoctetes. For though he had wronged no one by force or thievery, ⁶⁸⁵ but conducted himself fairly towards the fair, he was left to perish so undeservedly. I truly marvel how—how in the world—as he listened in solitude to the breakers rushing around him, ⁶⁹⁰ he kept his hold upon a life so full of grief. Choru ^69
1 Here, he alone was his own neighbor, powerless to walk, with no one in the land to be his companion while he suffered—no one to whom he could cry out a lament that would be answered ⁶⁹⁵ for the plague that gnawed his flesh and drained his blood—no one to lull with healing herbs gathered from the nourishing earth the burning blood which oozed from the ulcers of hi ⁷⁴⁵ I am destroyed, boy—I am devoured! Ah, by the gods I beg you, if you have a sword ready to hand, strike at my ankle—cut it off now! Do not spare my life! ⁷⁹⁹ nourish this plague, and for as long! Oh, Ah, me! O Death, Death, though I am always summoning you day after day, why do you never come? O son, noble youth, seize me, ⁸⁰⁰ burn me up, true friend, in that fire famed as Lemnian. I, too, once deemed it lawful to do that very service for the son of Zeus, in return for which I received these same arms, which are now in your keeping. What do you say, boy, what do you say? ⁸⁰⁵ Why this silence? Where are your thoughts, son? Neoptolemu ^8
17 What is this new delirium? Why do you gaze at the dome above us? Philoctete ^8
18 There, then, I release you—if in fact you believe it is for the better. Philoctete ⁸³⁹ No, even though he hears nothing, I see that ⁸⁴⁰ we have made this bow our quarry to no end, if we sail without him. His must be the victor’s crown. It is he that the god commanded we bring. It would be a foul disgrace upon us to boast of deeds in which failure and fraud had equal parts. Choru ⁸⁵⁵ Now, son, a fair wind blows you on your way: sightless and helpless, the man lies stretched in darkness—sleep in the heat is sound— ⁸⁶⁰ with no command of hands or feet, but stripped of all his powers, like one who rests with Hades. Take note, see if your pronouncements are seasonable. So far as my thoughts can seize the truth, boy, the best strategy is that which stirs no alarm. Neoptolemu ⁸⁹⁵ God! What am I to do next? Philoctete ⁹⁰² All is offense when a man has abandoned his true nature and does what does not suit him. Philoctete ⁹⁴⁶ By force he drags me away, as if he had captured a strong man, and does not see that he is cutting down a corpse, the shadow of smoke, a mere phantom. In my strength he could not have taken me—no!—nor even in my present condition, save by deceit. But now, because of my rotten fate, I have been tricked. What should I do? ⁹⁵² Wait, give it back! Now, at least, recover your true self! What do you say? Silence! I am nothing! Double-gated cave, back, back again I return to you, but now stripped and lacking the means to live. Yes, in that chamber I will wither away alone, ⁹⁵⁵ bringing down with that bow no winged bird, no beast that roams the hills. Rather I myself shall die in misery, and supply a feast for those who fed me, becoming the prey of those on whom I preyed. Ah, in requital for blood my own blood will flow, ^10
16 to be cunning in evil. And now, wretch, for me you plan bonds and passage from the very shore on which you had me flung away, friendless, abandoned, citiless, a corpse in the eyes of the living. Ah! Hades take you! Indeed I have often so prayed for you. ¹⁰²⁰ But, because the gods grant me nothing that is sweet, you remain alive and you laugh, while I live miserably among countless sufferings, mocked by you and by the sons of Atreus, the two generals whom you serve on this errand. ¹⁰²⁵ And yet you sailed with them only when brought under their yoke by trickery and compulsion. But me, when, to my utter ruin, I sailed of my own accord as their mate with seven ships, me they cast out of ship and honor, as you claim, while they say that it was your doing. And now, why would you take me? Why have me led away? For what purpose? ¹⁰³⁰ I am nothing, and, as far as you were concerned, I have long been dead. You creature abhorred by the gods, how is it that you no longer find me crippled and foul-smelling? How, if I sail with you, can you burn sacrifices to the gods, or make libations any more? That was your pretext for casting me away in the first place. ¹⁰⁴⁹ I could say much in answer to his claims, if time allowed; but now I can say one thing only. What kind of man the occasion demands, that kind of man am I. ^10
54 And accordingly, where the judgment at hand is of just and good men, you could find no man more pious than me. Victory, however, is my inborn desire in every field—save with regard to you. To you, in this case, I will gladly give way. Yes, release him, and lay not another finger upon him. ¹⁰⁵⁵ Let him stay here. We have no further need of you, now that we have these weapons. For Teucer is there among our forces, well-skilled in this craft, as am I, and I believe that I can master this bow in no way worse than you, and point it with no worse a hand. ¹⁰⁶⁰ So what need is there of you? Farewell! Enjoy your strolls on Lemnos ! We must be going. And perhaps your onetime prize will bring me the honor which ought to have been your own. Philoctete ^1
1
16 Doom, god-sent doom constrained you to suffer this, not, I tell you, any treachery to which my hand was lent. ^1

140 A man must always assert what is right. But, when he has done so, he must not let loose maligt, stinging taunts. The man was the sole representative of the whole army, and at their mandate ^1

145 he achieved a universal benefit for his friends. Philoctete ^1
155 The time is ripe for you to take blood for blood, to sate yourselves to your heart’s desire on my discolored flesh! Soon I will leave life, for from what source can I find the means to live? Who can feed, as I will have to, ^1
165 But know this, and know it well: it is in your power to escape this plague. Cruel is it that you feed it with your own flesh, and that there is no way for you to learn to endure the countless torments that dwell with it. Philoctete ¹²⁴⁴ Wise though you were born, your threats are void of wisdom. Odysseu ¹²⁴⁶ And yet if they are just, they are better than wise. Odysseu ^13

14 I delight at your praise of my father, ^13
15 and of myself. But hear what I desire to gain from you. It is true that men are compelled to bear the fortunes given by the gods; but when they cling to self-inflicted miseries, as you do, ¹³²⁰ no one can justly excuse or pity them. You have become savage: you welcome no counsellor, and if someone admonishes you, even if he speaks in all good will, you detest him and consider him an enemy who wishes you ill. All the same I will speak to you, calling Zeus who guards oaths to witness. ¹³²⁵ And you remember these words and write them in your heart: you suffer this plague’s affliction in accordance with god-sent fate, because you came near to Chryse ’s guardian, the serpent who secretly watches over her home and guards her roofless sanctuary. Know also that you will never gain relief from this grave sickness, ¹³³⁰ as long as the sun still rises in the east and sets in the west, until of your own free will you come to the plains of Troy , find there the sons of Asclepius, our comrades, be relieved of this infection, and, with this bow’ ¹³³⁵ aid and mine, be hailed as the sacker of Troy ’s towers. How I know these things are so ordained, I will tell you. We have a Trojan prisoner, Helenus, foremost among seers, who says plainly that all this must come to pass, and further, ¹³⁴⁰ that this very summer must see the complete capture of Troy . Otherwise he willingly gives himself over for execution, if these prophecies of his prove false. Therefore, now that you understand everything, give way graciously. It is a glorious addition to your gain to be singled out ¹³⁴⁵ as best of the Greeks—first, for coming into healing hands, and then for taking Troy rich in tears, and so winning a matchless renown. Philoctete ¹³⁶² these men in the future. For when the mind of men has once mothered wrongdoing, it trains those men to be wrongdoers in all else thereafter. And in you, too, I wonder at this. You should never yourself revisit Troy , and should prevent me from going there, seeing that those men have done you outrage ¹³⁶⁵ by stripping you of your father’s arms when, in the suit for the weapons, they judged unhappy Ajax inferior to Odysseus . After that, will you go to fight at their side, and compel me to do the same? No, do not do it, son, but, as you swore to me, escort me home. You yourself remain in Scyros, and leave those evil men to their evil doom. ¹⁴⁰⁹ Not yet, not until you have heard my commands, ^14
10 on of Poeas. Know that your ears perceive the voice of Heracles, and that you look upon his face. For your sake I have left my divine seat and come ^14
15 to reveal to you the purposes of Zeus, and to halt the journey on which you are departing. Hearken to my words. First I would tell you of my own fortunes—how, by toiling through and enduring so many toils to the end, I have won the glory of deathlessness, as you witness. ¹⁴²⁰ And for you, be sure, this fate is ordained, that through these toils of yours you will make your life far-famed. You shall go with this man to the Trojan city, where, first, you shall be healed of your cruel sickness, ¹⁴²⁵ and then, chosen out as foremost among the warriors in prowess, with my bow you shall sever Paris , the author of these evils, from life. You shall sack Troy and shall receive from the army the spoils of supreme valor to carry home ¹⁴³⁰ to the heights of your native Oeta for the delight of your father Poeas. And whatever spoils you receive from that army, from them carry to my pyre a thank-offering for my bow. And these counsels hold for you also, son of Achilles, ¹⁴³⁵ for you have not the might to subdue the Trojan realm without him, nor he without you. Rather, like twin lions with the same quarry, each of you must guard the other’s life. For the healing of your sickness, I will send Asclepius to Troy , since it is doomed to fall a second time ¹⁴⁴⁰ before my arrows. But of this be mindful, when you plunder the land—that you show reverence towards the gods. Do this because Father Zeus regards all else as of less account, and because Piety does not die along with mortals. Whether they are alive or dead, their piety does not perish. Philoctete ' None

6. Sophocles, Women of Trachis, 490-492, 770, 786-787 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Philoctetes • Philoctetes (Sophocles), and virtual characters • Philoctetes (Sophocles), surprise in • Philoctetes, False Merchant scene • Philoctetes, Neoptolemus • Philoctetes, use of myth

Found in books: Budelmann (1999), The Language of Sophocles: Communality, Communication, and Involvement, 54, 102; Jouanna (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, 71; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 318, 342

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490 My own thoughts move me to act as you advise. Rest assured that I will not earn another affliction for myself by waging a fruitless fight against the gods. But let us go into the house, so that you may carry him my messages and since gifts should be given in due recompense for gifts received, '⁴⁹¹ My own thoughts move me to act as you advise. Rest assured that I will not earn another affliction for myself by waging a fruitless fight against the gods. But let us go into the house, so that you may carry him my messages and since gifts should be given in due recompense for gifts received, ⁷⁷⁰ a convulsive, biting pain in his bones; and then the venom, like that of some deadly, cruel viper, began to devour him. At that he shouted for the ill-fated Lichas—who was in no way to blame for your crime—asking by what plots he had brought that robe. ⁷⁸⁶ and no one dared to approach the man. For he convulsed down to the ground and up into the air as he shouted and cried out. All around the cliffs resounded, both the steep headlands of Locris and the Euboean capes. But when he was exhausted with repeatedly ' None

7. Xenophon, Hellenica, 1.4.18 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Philoctetes (Sophocles), and Alcibiades • Tyrannus, Philoctetes

Found in books: Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 641; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 330

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1.4.18 Meanwhile Alcibiades, who had come to anchor close to the shore, did not at once disembark, through fear of his enemies; but mounting upon the deck of 407 B.C. his ship, he looked to see whether his friends were present.'' None

8. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Philoctetes (Sophocles), and Alcibiades • Sophocles, works, Philoctetes • noble lie, in Philoctetes

Found in books: Hesk (2000), Deception and Democracy in Classical Athens, 189; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 641

9. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Sophocles, Philoctetes • Tyrannus, Philoctetes

Found in books: Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 245; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 56, 61, 107

10. None, None, nan (4th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Philoctetes, • Philoktetes, in s. Italy

Found in books: Bowersock (1997), Fiction as History: Nero to Julian, 61; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 302

11. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 9.230-9.231 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Philoctetes

Found in books: Ker and Wessels (2020), The Values of Nighttime in Classical Antiquity: Between Dusk and Dawn, 297; Williams and Vol (2022), Philosophy in Ovid, Ovid as Philosopher, 203

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9.230 arboribus caesis, quas ardua gesserat Oete, ^9.231 inque pyram structis, arcum pharetramque capacem'' None

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9.230 I drown my wretched spirit in weak tears? ^9.231 Let me consider an effectual check—'' None

12. Dio Chrysostom, Orations, 52.14 (1st cent. CE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aeschylus, Philoctetes • Euripides, Philoctetes • Pfeiffer, Rudolf, Philoctetes, return of • Philoctetes • Philoctetes, • Philoctetes, False Merchant scene • Philoctetes, Odysseus • Philoctetes, use of myth

Found in books: Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 54; Bowersock (1997), Fiction as History: Nero to Julian, 56; Budelmann (1999), The Language of Sophocles: Communality, Communication, and Involvement, 99; Greensmith (2021), The Resurrection of Homer in Imperial Greek Epic: Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica and the Poetics of Impersonation, 317, 318

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52.14 \xa0Again, Euripides causes Odysseus to arrive not unattended but in company with Diomedes, another Homeric touch. Thus all in all, as I\xa0was saying, throughout the whole play he displays the greatest dexterity and plausibility in the action; an irresistible, yes, amazing, power of language; a dialogue that is clear and natural and urbane; and lyrics that not only are delightful but also contain a strong incentive toward virtue. <' ' None

13. None, None, nan (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Philoctetes • Philoctetes,

Found in books: Bowersock (1997), Fiction as History: Nero to Julian, 64; Verhelst and Scheijnens (2022), Greek and Latin Poetry of Late Antiquity: Form, Tradition, and Context, 40

14. None, None, nan (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Philoctetes (Sophocles), and Alcibiades • Tyrannus, Philoctetes

Found in books: Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 641; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 330

15. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Iliad, Philoctetes’ return • Pfeiffer, Rudolf, Philoctetes, return of • Philoctetes

Found in books: Greensmith (2021), The Resurrection of Homer in Imperial Greek Epic: Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica and the Poetics of Impersonation, 317, 318, 320, 321; Maciver (2012), Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica: Engaging Homer in Late Antiquity, 119, 120, 121, 122

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Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database