Philoctetes (Φιλοκτήτης) can refer to any of three ancient Greek plays, one each by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. (However, only the Sophocles text has survived)

The name Philoctetes has also been used as a pseudonym by a South African critic.

405 BC)[1]

The original text

The play tells the story of the attempt by Neoptolemus and Odysseus to bring the disabled Philoctetes, the master archer, back to Troy from the island of Lemnos during the Trojan war. . The play was written during the Peloponnesian War. It is one of the seven extant tragedies by Sophocles.

It was first performed at the City Dionysia in 409 BC, where it won first prize.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into Afrikaans as Die Philoktetes ("The Philoctetes") by J.P.J. van Rensburg in 1975, with the author listed as Sophokles.

A copy of the Afrikaans text found in the Stellenbosch Drama Department's theatre archives is now held in the Performing Arts Research Collection (PARC) at the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation, with offices at Pieter Okkers House, 7 Joubert Street, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Performances

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philoctetes_(Sophocles_play)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophocles

Copy of the Afrikaans text held in the Performing Arts Research Collection (PARC) at the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation, Stellenbosch.

Philoctetes as pseudonym

The name Philoctetes was used as a pseudonym by a critic who wrote some articles for the journal Scenaria circa 1985 (see ESAT Bibliography Peb-Ph).