Philoctetes

Philoctetes , in Greek mythology, son of Poias. He acquired, by gift, the bow and arrow of Hercules by lighting the pyre on which the hero was consumed alive. On his way to the Trojan War, Philoctetes was bitten by a snake. Because the smell of his wound and his cries made him offensive, his companions left him on the desolate island of Lemnos. When an oracle declared that Troy could not be taken without the weapons of Hercules, Philoctetes was brought to Troy by Neoptolemus (or Diomedes) and Odysseus. Sophocles' drama Philoctetes is based on the efforts of Neoptolemus and Odysseus to bring Philoctetes to Troy.

Philoctetes in Greek mythology, a famous archer, who by shooting Paris helped to bring about the fall of Troy. Although he had originally set out for Troy with the other Greeks, he had been bitten by a snake at Tenedos, and because of the smell of the suppurating wound that resulted he had been left by his companions on the desolate coast of Lesbos. After a prophecy that Troy would not fall without Philoctetes he was brought to the siege; his wound was healed and he killed Paris.