In Greek mythology, Philoctetes kills the Trojan prince Paris with Heracles’ bow. Philoctetes inherited the bow and arrows of Heracles after helping kindle Heracles’ funeral pyre. During the Greek expedition to Troy, a snakebite left Philoctetes with a severe wound, and the Greeks abandoned him on Lemnos.
The Greek army later learned that Troy could not be captured without Heracles’ weapons and brought Philoctetes back to the war. In Sophocles’ tragedy Philoctetes, the dispute over his return is the central dramatic conflict. Once restored to the Greek cause, he uses Heracles’ bow to shoot Paris.
Paris dies after being wounded, and his former lover Oenone refuses or fails to heal him, depending on the version. Philoctetes is a different figure from Teucer, another famous Greek archer, whose bow is associated with the battles described in the Iliad.