Philoctetes

Acts

• Prologue

  Odysseus and Neoptolemus arrive on Lemnos. They must retrieve Philoctetes and Heracles' bow — Troy cannot fall without them.

  135 lines
• Parodos

  The chorus pities Philoctetes, abandoned on this island for ten years with a wound that never heals.

  81 lines
• First Episode

  Philoctetes appears — lame, wretched, desperately glad to see Greeks. Neoptolemus begins the deception.

  172 lines
• First Stasimon

  The chorus laments Philoctetes's suffering: ten years alone, hunting with Heracles' bow, nursing a suppurating wound.

  8 lines
• Second Episode

  A disguised merchant arrives with a false story designed to pressure Philoctetes into leaving with Neoptolemus.

  105 lines
• Second Stasimon

  The chorus reflects on Philoctetes's miserable fate and the injustice of his abandonment.

  8 lines
• Third Episode

  Philoctetes' wound erupts in agony. In his delirium he entrusts the bow to Neoptolemus.

  159 lines
• Third Stasimon

  The chorus urges Neoptolemus to take the bow and leave while Philoctetes sleeps.

  38 lines
• The Crisis

  Neoptolemus cannot go through with the deception. He tells Philoctetes the truth.

  106 lines
• Odysseus Revealed

  Odysseus appears and takes control. Philoctetes is defiant: he will die on Lemnos before he helps the men who abandoned him.

  38 lines
• Fourth Stasimon

  The chorus appeals to Philoctetes to relent. But his rage overwhelms all arguments.

  223 lines
• Neoptolemus Returns

  Neoptolemus breaks with Odysseus and returns the bow. He appeals through genuine friendship and shared honour.

  124 lines
• Exodos

  Philoctetes still refuses. The deified Heracles appears and commands him: go, be healed, and sack Troy. Philoctetes obeys.

  268 lines