Olympians
AphroditeApolloAresArtemisAthenaHadesHephaestusHeraHermesHestiaPoseidonZeusAll Olympians
Titans
AsteriaAstraeusAtlasClymeneCriusCronusDioneEosEpimetheusEurybiaEurynomeHyperionAll Titans
Greek Gods
AeolusAetherAmphitriteAnemoiApateAsclepiusAuraBiaChaosCirceDeimosDemeterAll Greek Gods
Myths
CreaturesElementsFiguresGigantesGreek MythsHeroesMonstersMortalsMoviesNorsePlacesPlanetsAll Myths
Plays
AeschylusAristophanesEuripidesSophoclesAll Plays
Ancient Sources
ApollodorusHomerHesiodAeschylusSophoclesEuripidesAristophanesApolloniusOvidPausaniasPindarAll Ancient Sources
Olympians
Olympians
AphroditeApolloAresArtemisAthenaHadesHephaestusHeraHermesHestiaPoseidonZeusAll Olympians
Titans
Titans
AsteriaAstraeusAtlasClymeneCriusCronusDioneEosEpimetheusEurybiaEurynomeHyperionAll Titans
Greek Gods
Greek Gods
AeolusAetherAmphitriteAnemoiApateAsclepiusAuraBiaChaosCirceDeimosDemeterAll Greek Gods
Myths
Myths
CreaturesElementsFiguresGigantesGreek MythsHeroesMonstersMortalsMoviesNorsePlacesPlanetsAll Myths
Plays
Plays
AeschylusAristophanesEuripidesSophoclesAll Plays
Ancient Sources
Ancient Sources
ApollodorusHomerHesiodAeschylusSophoclesEuripidesAristophanesApolloniusOvidPausaniasPindarAll Ancient Sources

Sophocles · c. 496-406 BC

Philoctetes

Φιλοκτήτης
Ancient Sources / Sophocles / Philoctetes

Read our guide to Philoctetes

Philoctetes was staged in 409 BC. In the tenth year of the Trojan war, the Greeks learn that Troy cannot fall without the bow of Heracles, which belongs to Philoctetes, the man they abandoned on the island of Lemnos because of his festering wound. Odysseus brings the young Neoptolemus to win the bow by deceit, and the play turns on the boy's conscience. The sections follow the play's own units (prologue, parodos, episodes, choral songs and exodos) and keep the standard line numbers of the Greek text.

Read from the start
Text
Greek original with English translation, 21 passages, about 13900 words in English.
Translator
Richard C. Jebb (modernised by Perseus) (1898)
Edition
Greek text: Francis Storr (ed. and trans.), Sophocles, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, 1913, as digitised by Perseus. English: Richard C. Jebb, Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, The Philoctetes, Cambridge University Press, 1898 (Perseus's modernised version of Jebb's prose translation)
Cite as
Sophocles, Philoctetes 1 (by line number)

Contents · 21 passages

  1. 1–85Prologue: Odysseus and Neoptolemus on Lemnos887 words
  2. 86–134Prologue (cont.): Neoptolemus hesitates, then agrees532 words
  3. 135–217Parodos: the sailors and Neoptolemus623 words
  4. 219–316First episode: Philoctetes meets Neoptolemus938 words
  5. 317–390First episode (cont.): Neoptolemus' false story733 words
  6. 391–506First stasimon; Philoctetes asks about Troy and begs to be taken home1102 words
  7. 507–627Second episode: Neoptolemus agrees; the Merchant's warning1176 words
  8. 628–675Second episode (cont.): Philoctetes lets Neoptolemus hold the bow538 words
  9. 676–728Second stasimon: Ixion and the sufferer on Lemnos374 words
  10. 730–826Third episode: the attack of pain903 words
  11. 827–864Third stasimon: the Chorus invoke Sleep293 words
  12. 865–962Fourth episode: Neoptolemus admits the deception1026 words
  13. 963–1003Fourth episode (cont.): Odysseus appears454 words
  14. 1004–1080Fourth episode (cont.): Odysseus takes the bow and leaves Philoctetes793 words
  15. 1081–1161Fourth stasimon: Philoctetes' lament in the cave533 words
  16. 1162–1217Fourth stasimon (cont.): the Chorus plead; Philoctetes asks for a sword436 words
  17. 1218–1262Exodos: Neoptolemus returns to give back the bow490 words
  18. 1263–1313Exodos (cont.): the bow restored533 words
  19. 1314–1347Exodos (cont.): Neoptolemus urges Philoctetes to go to Troy315 words
  20. 1348–1407bExodos (cont.): Philoctetes refuses and Neoptolemus yields671 words
  21. 1408–1471Exodos (cont.): Heracles appears530 words

More by Sophocles

English translation by Richard C. Jebb (modernised by Perseus) (1898). Original text: Greek text: Francis Storr (ed. and trans.), Sophocles, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, 1913, as digitised by Perseus. English: Richard C. Jebb, Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, The Philoctetes, Cambridge University Press, 1898 (Perseus's modernised version of Jebb's prose translation).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.