Philoctetes

Sophocles and other Greek writers tell the story of this prince of Thessaly, an Argonaut and a companion of Heracles. Bitten by a snake when he was leaving for the Trojan War, he ended up abandoned on the island of Lemnos. His captivity ends (Homer in the Iliad) when Odysseus and Neoptolemus visited him because the Greeks thought they would only win the war if they had the arrows poisoned with Hydra’s blood received by Heracles.

Sófocles e outros autores gregos contam a história deste príncipe da Tessália, argonauta e companheiro de Héracles. Mordido por uma serpente quando embarcava para a guerra de Tróia, acaba abandonado na ilha de Lemnos. O seu cativeiro termina (Homero na Ilíada) quando recebeu a visita de Ulisses e Neoptolemo porque os gregos pensavam que só venceriam a guerra ao estar de posse das flechas envenenadas no sangue da Hidra de Lerna, recebidas de Héracles.

Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard-'the wounded Philoctetes'-oil on canvas   Copenhagen-Statens Museum for Kunst

Achille-Etna Michallon (1796-1822)-'landscape with Philoctetes on the island of Lemnos'-oil on canvas   Canberre-National Gallery of Australia

François-Xavier Fabre (1766-1833)-'Ulysses and Neoptolemus taking Hercules' arrows from Philoctetes'-oil on canvas

Vincenzo Baldacci-'dying Philoctetes on the island Lemnos'-(1802-1813)

Jean-Germain Drouais (1763-1788)-'Philoctetes on Lemnos'-1788   Chartres-Musée des Beaux-Arts