When modern authors and filmmakers like Christopher Nolan adapt ancient myths and characters, they are following an old and well-worn precedent. In this episode, Emily and Cam explore how the Athenian playwright Sophocles adapted a well-known story about Odysseus and used it in his play, Philoctetes, to explore questions about deception, persuasion, and intractable situations.

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Cover image: Lekythos depicting Philoctetes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (56.171.58); adapted from a photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen, Wikimedia Commons.

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00:11 - Introduction

02:50 - Sophocles’ Philoctetes

  • 02:55 - The performance: 409, at the end of the Peloponnesian War
  • 03:07 - Athenian Tragedy in the late 5th century: actors and the chorus
  • 05:37 - The competitive context


07:26 - The Myth of Philoctetes

  • 07:39 - Son of Poias
  • 07:57 - Philoctetes, the Trojan War, and Lemnos
  • 09:37 - Philoctetes and the Bow of Herakles


10:30 - Philoctetes: Plot Summary

  • 10:43 - The opening scene: a plot is hatched
  • 13:22 - The encounter with Philoctetes
  • 15:10 - The “merchant” enters the scene
  • 18:00 - Philoctetes’ seizure and Neoptolemus’ moral crisis
  • 18:57 - Odysseus’ surprise entry
  • 20:21 - Odysseus and Neoptolemus have a spat
  • 21:35 - The epiphany


22:17 - Sophocles’ innovations

  • 22:54 - Lemnos: a deserted island
  • 23:25 - Neoptolemus replaces Diomedes
  • 24:36 - A digression on other plays about Philoctetes: Aeschylus and Euripides


25:57 - Odysseus in Philoctetes

  • 26:10 - Odysseus as trickster
  • 27:14 - The Homeric precedent
  • 28:23 - Sophocles’ move: Odysseus, disguise, and a destabilization of trust: are the minor characters who they say they are?


35:26 - Deception in Philoctetes

  • 35:35 - Is Odysseus the play’s “bad guy”?
  • 38:43 - The chorus has a different view!
  • 39:10 - Philoctetes isn’t a straightforward “good guy”!
  • 40:48 - Neoptolemus: is deception good when you do it to help someone else?
  • 43:57 - Sophocles doesn’t give us easy lessons


44:43 - Intractable Problems

  • 45:04 - The impasse
  • 46:33 - The epiphany of Heracles and what it might mean
  • 48:47 - A happy ending for Philoctetes—and for Odysseus!
  • 50:15 - The value of deception: an open question (and Sophocles’ brilliance)


51:21 - Wrap-up

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Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör Emily Jusino, PhD (Classics) and Cam Hawkins, PhD (Ancient History). Innehållet i podden är skapat av Emily Jusino, PhD (Classics) and Cam Hawkins, PhD (Ancient History) och inte av, eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.