Philoctētēs

Philoctētēs, in Greek myth, son of Poeas; the father had been persuaded, by the gift of Heracles' bow and arrows, to light the pyre on which the latter was burnt alive. These descended to Philoctetes, who led seven ships from Methonē and other towns of that region in the expedition to Troy. On their way to Troy the Greeks sacrificed in Tenedos, and there Philoctetes was bitten in the foot by a serpent. The stench from his wound, which would not heal, and his terrible cries and curses caused the Greeks, persuaded by Odysseus, to abandon him on the solitary coast of the island of Lemnos, where he supported himself by the bow and arrows which never missed their mark. After many years the Trojan seer Helenus, captured by Odysseus, revealed that Troy would never fall unless Philoctetes could be persuaded to come and fight with his bow and arrows. Accordingly Odysseus and Neoptolemus (or Diomedēs) went to Lemnos and brought him back. Machaon healed his wound and Philoctetes, by shooting Paris, helped to conquer Troy. According to the Odyssey Philoctetes returned home safely. He is mentioned in the Iliad and is the subject of a play by Sophocles.