Philoctetes was King of Meliboea at the time of the Trojan War.
Biography[]
Philoctetes was was the son of Poeas of Meliboea, and he first became famous for lighting Heracles' funeral pyre and was gifted Heracles' bow and poisoned arrows. He unsuccessfully sought Helen's hand in marriage, thus obliging him to defend her husband Menelaus of Sparta under the Oath of Tyndareus, and resulting in his participation in the Trojan War from 1193-1183 BC. He was stranded on Lemnos during his journey to Troy, where he was bitten by a snake sent by Hera to punish him for his father's service to Heracles. Odysseus had the Greeks leave Philoctetes behind to prevent Hera from further vexing the Achaean cause, and Philoctetes remained on Lemnos, alone, until 1183 BC. That year, Odysseus was forced to retrieve Philoctetes after the prophet Helenus said that the Greeks needed Heracles' bow and arrow to win the war, and Philoctetes killed Paris of Troy and took part in the "Trojan Horse" ruse at the end of the war.