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Philoctetes

by Sophocles

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First published: 1890
Pages: 61

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Philoctetes (1883) is a public domain work.

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About this book

Years before, the Greeks marooned the archer Philoctetes on the deserted island of Lemnos, unable to bear the stench and cries of his festering, incurable wound. Now a prophecy tells them Troy will never fall without him and the great bow of Heracles that he still carries. Odysseus arrives with young Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, planning to win the bow by deceit, and the boy is torn between the mission and his own sense of honor. Sophocles builds the whole tragedy out of that moral tension, weighing loyalty, pity, and the cost of lies, before a god intervenes to settle it. Staged in 409 BCE, when the poet was in his eighties, it remains one of his most humane plays. Available as a free PDF and EPUB edition.

About the author

Sophocles

Sophocles (c. 497-406 BC) was one of the three great tragic playwrights of ancient Athens. Of his many plays, seven survive, including the Theban plays centered on Oedipus and Antigone.