After the death of Achilles and Ajax, the Greeks stubbornly continued the siege of Troy, but could not take the city by force. One day, Odysseus overheard from an ambush the words of the soothsayers Gelen, the son of Priam, and took him prisoner by cunning. Thus, Odysseus learned that Troy would be taken only if Philoctetes with the poisoned arrows of Hercules and the young son of Achilles Neoptolemus arrived in the Greek army. Odysseus immediately decided to go on a long journey after both heroes.
It was not difficult for Odysseus, when he arrived on the island of Skyros to King Lycomedes, to convince the young son of Achilles to take part in the siege of Troy. Like his father, the beautiful Neoptolemus burned with a thirst for great exploits. He immediately set off on the journey with Odysseus, although his mother Didamia urged him to stay with tears.
It was much more difficult to master Philoctetes. He lived on the deserted island of Chryse near Lemnos, abandoned by everyone in a cave with two exits - to the east and to the west. Through these exits the sun warmed the cave in winter, and in summer the wind moderated the heat in it. Philoctetes often felt hungry. With difficulty he obtained food for himself, killing wild pigeons with his arrows. The wound on his leg hurt terribly; the unfortunate man could barely move to fetch water. With great difficulty he managed to start a fire by striking stone against stone. Philoctetes experienced terrible hardships and suffering on Chris for ten whole years. Occasionally sailors landed on the shores of Chrysa, but none of them agreed to take Philoctetes with them to Greece. The culprits of all this suffering were the sons of Atreus and Odysseus. Philoctetes burned with terrible hatred towards them. He would gladly have struck them down with the arrows of his bow.
Odysseus knew that inevitable death threatened him if Philoctetes saw him; so he decided to master it by cunning. He persuaded young Neoptolemus to go to Philoctetes and tell him that he was coming from Troy, leaving the siege because the Greek leaders insulted him. If Philoctetes asks to take him to Greece, then agree and in this way take possession of Philoctetes, his bow and arrows and take him to the ship. Then it will be easy to bring Philoctetes to Troy. Neoptolemus did not want to act by deception, but Odysseus convinced him that this was the only way to lure Philoctetes onto the ship. Neoptolemus agreed.
When the ship arrived at Chryse, Neoptolemus went ashore with several soldiers and went to the cave. There was no Philoctetes in it. Soon Philoctetes appeared.
With a loud groan he walked towards the cave, his wound tormented him terribly. Philoctetes rejoiced when he saw the newcomers. His joy was even greater when he learned that in front of him was Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. Neoptolemus told the sufferer the whole fictitious story that Odysseus had invented, told him about the deaths of Achilles, Patroclus and Ajax. Philoctetes was saddened when he learned about the death of those whom he loved more than all the other heroes. Philoctetes agreed to sail with Neoptolemus to Greece; he even handed over his arrows to his bow to the young son of Achilles and begged him to protect him from the treachery of Odysseus. Philoctetes himself urged Neoptolemus to sail to Greece as quickly as possible.
Suddenly a warrior comes and reports that the hero Phoenix and the sons of Theseus are approaching to take Philoctetes by force to Troy. Despite the terrible suffering from which he falls unconscious to the ground, Philoctetes hurries to the shore. Neoptolemus sees these sufferings. He is unable to continue the deception any longer and reveals the whole truth to Philoctetes. Neoptolemus wanted to return the arrows and bow to Philoctetes, but Odysseus, who ran out from the ambush, did not allow him to do this. Philoctetes wanted to run away and throw himself from the top of a cliff into the sea, just not to be an obedient instrument in the hands of Odysseus and the sons of Atreus, whom he hated. Odysseus ordered his servants to seize Philoctetes and force him to the ship. Philoctetes fell into despair. Neoptolemus could not see his suffering and gave the bow and arrows to the unfortunate man. Odysseus's entire plan collapsed. He even hastened to flee, because he knew how terrible death from the arrow of Hercules was.
Neoptolemus also made an attempt to persuade Philoctetes to go with him to Troas and help the Greeks take Troy. But Philoctetes flatly refused - he could not forget the suffering to which Agamemnon, Menelaus and Odysseus doomed him. It seemed that they would have to leave Chrysa without achieving their goal, or would again have to resort to the deception of Neoptolemus.
Suddenly, Hercules appeared in front of Philoctetes in the radiance of the immortal god. He ordered Philoctetes to go to the walls of Troy; there, the greatest of the heroes promised Philoctetes healing from his wound and great glory during the capture of Troy. Philoctetes obeyed the will of his friend. He voluntarily boarded Odysseus’s ship and sailed to Troas, where great exploits awaited him. Neoptolemus accomplished many feats when he arrived under the walls of Troy. No one could compare in strength and courage with the son of Achilles. Many Trojan heroes fell at the hands of Neoptolemus in battle. In a fierce duel he also killed the mighty descendant of Hercules, Eurypylus, son of Telephus. He was sent to help Priam by his mother, bribed with a precious gift - a golden vine, which Zeus grew for the beautiful Ganymede. After Memnon, the most powerful defender of Troy was Eurypylus, beautiful as a god. His mother's selfishness ruined him.
Soon after arriving at the walls of Troy, Philoctetes wounded Paris, the culprit of the entire war, with his arrow. Philoctetes inflicted an incurable wound on him with the poisoned arrow of Hercules, from which Paris was to die in terrible agony. The arrow's poison penetrated deeper and deeper into his body. Paris left Troy for the forest and died there in terrible agony. He died where he once lived carelessly, like a simple shepherd. The shepherds found the body of Paris. They bitterly mourned the death of their former comrade. They built a high fire, placed Paris's body on it and set it on fire. The shepherds collected the ashes, put them in an urn and placed them in the grave.
Every day it became more and more difficult for the Trojans to defend the city. Still, the Greeks could not take possession of Troy by force. Then Odysseus decided on a dangerous feat. He disfigured his face with the blows of a whip and, dressed in rags, disguised as a beggar, went to Troy to find out everything that the Trojans were up to. All the Trojans saw the unfortunate beggar collecting alms along the crowded streets. Only Helen recognized Odysseus. Calling him to her house, Helen washed his body and swore not to reveal to the Trojans who he was. Odysseus found out everything and, having killed many guards, returned safely to the Greek camp. The two of Odysseus and Diomedes accomplished an even more dangerous feat: they secretly entered Troy and crept into the sanctuary of Pallas Athena; there stood a wooden image of the goddess that had once fallen from the sky (palladium). The Greeks needed to get this image, since as long as it was in Troy, it was impossible to take possession of Troy. His brave heroes kidnapped him with great danger. On the way back they killed many Trojans and returned to the camp.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru