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said of Philoctetes.  Philoctetes was an anomaly within the Greek world.  He was known by many but loved by few.  To both the mortals of the world and the Gods in heaven he was known as a failure.  He was once a mighty man and leader, of chosen lineage.  As the son of King Poeas he was a Greek hero.  His most famed skill was as an archer.  He fought in the Trojan War where he was a noble hero.
    In fact, his performance during the Trojan War so impressed the Gods that Zeus secretly appointed him to be a trainer of heroes—heroes that would help win the war of good and evil on the earth (while he fought against Hades in the heavens). Philoctetes obeyed the command of Zeus and raised up an army of the greatest heroes the world had ever seen. However, sadly to Philoctetes, Hades heard of what he was attempting to do, and secretly tempted each of the great heroes Philoctetes had trained (some with power, others with lust, and others will wealth). Then Zeus called for a great war to occur with Philoctetes and his great heroes against Hades and his armies on earth.
    P hiloctetes stood noble and erect as he looked out over the battlefield, a battle that he was sure they were going to win. Although they were far outnumbered, Philoctetes and his heroes and he knew that his men and women were far more prepared and trained than Hades. They were the elite, he knew, the most elite warriors the world had ever known! But in all of Philoctetes’ intelligence and experience he had failed to see that, regardless of their great skill in war, they may still fail due to internal malady.
    The battle began but the heroes did not fight as their true selves. They all fought with a loss of nobility, or a loss of life, as he did not suppose or foresee. Hades, on the other hand, laughed and mocked Philoctetes, by saying, “Your warriors do not fight for you, but for me, for they have all been ensnared by me, doomed to become my servants forevermore!”
    Philoctetes , at this time, did not understand that even the greatest of warriors derive their strength from spirit, and it was this spirit they did not have. Instead, they fought as if enslaved, for all had been enslaved by sin and guilt.  Then, eventually, many of them stopped fighting entirely or some even sided with Hades until Philoctetes was left alone against Hades and his armies.
    It was then that Philoctetes shot an arrow at Hades, trying in one last desperate attempt to defeat Hades, but it did not affect him. Hades then sent his favorite animal, his ferocious, venomous snake, forward and it bit Philoctetes, wounding him severely with a powerful and very poisonous venom. Hades laughed, having won the battle against Philoctetes and his heroes.
    “Do not kill Philoctetes!” declared Hades to all his warriors. “Let him return to report his failure. He will live only long enough to report.”
    Indeed, this occasion was saddest amongst all occasions for Philoctetes, for all of Philoct etes’ heroes had failed, destined to serve Hades.
    Meanwhile Hades let Philoctetes return to Kin g Odysseus and report to him what had occurred. Odysseus mocked him, saying, “You failed against Hades’ armies, even with your great heroes to aid you. You are not as great as I supposed! Go, you are banished from this land henceforth!” And so Philoctetes was forced to leave his homeland as an outcast, still severely wounded from the snake bite. Without anyone to go to for help Philoctetes took his ship and sailed east. He surely believed that it would be his destiny to die in his ship on the sea. And, sadly enough, this is what Philoctetes wanted at this time. In these moments death was the only way that Philoctetes could escape the pain of the poisonous wound and the shame of his failure against Hades and his armies. But just before all was lost and Philoctetes saw the rays of heaven’s sunlight, he found that his ship had landed on a foreign land. The place was called the Island of Lemnos. It was a