Bow of Heracles
object · 2 works · 3 mentions · 6 anchored passages
arrows · bow · bow of Heracles · famous bow · feathered shafts · his arms · invincible weapons · sacred bow · shafts · shafts of Heracles
in the texts
Philoctetes
Heracles' bow and arrows are Philoctetes' divine weapon, his means of survival, and the indispensable instrument for Troy's capture.
O my son, boy whose father was Achilles, here I am before you, the man of whom you have perhaps heard as lord of the bow of Heracles, Philoctetes the son of Poeas.
Surely he toils by the plan of some god so that he may not bend against Troy the invincible arrows divine, until the time be fulfilled at which, men say, by those arrows Troy is fated to fall.
when, with no other hope of taking Ilium, they had summoned you by their prayers to come from home, they judged you not worthy of the arms of Achilles, not worthy to receive them—even though you had come and were claiming them by right—but instead handed them over to Odysseus.
Orations
The bow belonging to Heracles, inherited by Philoctetes, whose possession is necessary for the fall of Troy.
at any rate Philoctetes was being deprived of his arms by Odysseus, and was himself being carried off to Troy, for the most part willingly, but in part also through a compulsory persuasion, since he had been robbed of the weapons which afforded him, on the one hand, his livelihood on the island, and, on the other, courage amid such a disease, and at the same time good repute.