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Atreus’s Sons/The Atridae
Diomedes is the king of Argos and a Greek hero of the Trojan War. In some versions of the myth of Philoctetes, Diomedes (rather than Neoptolemus) accompanies Odysseus to Lemnos to retrieve Philoctetes. Diomedes does not arrive on Lemnos in Sophocles’s play, but he is mentioned many times. Diomedes is one of the men Philoctetes blames for marooning him on Lemnos, and Philoctetes deeply despises him as well as Odysseus. According to the elaborate lie concocted by Odysseus and delivered by the merchant, Diomedes is on his way to Lemnos with Odysseus to take Philoctetes and his bow and arrows to Troy by force.
Get the entire Philoctetes LitChart as a printable PDF.
Diomedes Character Timeline in Philoctetes
The timeline below shows where the character Diomedes appears in Philoctetes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Scene 2 (Lines 219 – 675)
...beforehand and was not there to protest. “I’m sorry,” Philoctetes says of Ajax’s death. “But Diomedes and Sisyphus’ / Spawn, whom Laertes bought, will never / Die. They should not have...
(full context)
...ship has sailed from Troy to find Neoptolemus and bring him back, and Odysseus and Diomedes have left on anther ship to find someone else. Neoptolemus asks who this other person...
(full context)
...the famous archer, and the merchant tells Neoptolemus he must leave Lemnos immediately. Odysseus and Diomedes are en route to retrieve Philoctetes at this very moment, the merchant says, and have...
(full context)
