Philoctetes

American  

[fil-uhk-tee-teez] / ˌfɪl əkˈti tiz /

noun

1. Classical Mythology. a noted archer and squire of Hercules. Bitten by a snake and abandoned on an island because of his festering wound, he was at length brought by the Greeks to Troy, where he recovered and later killed Paris.

2. (italics) a tragedy (408? b.c.) by Sophocles.

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Philoctetes British  

/ fɪˈlɒktɪˌtiːz, ˌfɪlɒkˈtiːtiːz /

noun

1. Greek myth a hero of the Trojan War, in which he killed Paris with the bow and poisoned arrows given to him by Hercules

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Example Sentences

Ten years later, it turns out that Troy cannot fall unless Philoctetes comes back to the fight and serves under those who abandoned him.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026

But I did get to witness the enthralling Lesley Sharp, whose sinuous portrayal of the blustering Philoctetes had a crackling energy.

From New York Times • Sep. 19, 2021

Unlike Ajax, Philoctetes was saved, after nine years of suffering, albeit mainly because his skills as an archer were needed for war.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 12, 2016

I am reminded of Philoctetes, the archer in Greek mythology whose shipmates abandoned him on an island because they were repelled by a wound that would not heal.

From National Geographic • Aug. 7, 2015

I have taken the story of Philoctetes and the death of Ajax from two plays of the fifth-century tragic poet Sophocles.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton