In Greek mythology, Oeta is chiefly celebrated as the scene of Heracles' death, and Roman authors even gave the demi-god the epithet Oetaeus. Prepared to die, he ascended Mount Oeta, where he built a funeral pyre, gave his bow and arrows to Philoctetes, and laid himself down on the pile, his head resting on his club, and his lion's skin spread over him, and commanded Philoctetes to apply the torch to the pyre. Another version of the story claims that Zeus threw a lightning bolt on the site of Heracles' death, and that from this place sprung forth the Gorgopotamos river. The remains of a 3rd-century BC Doric temple dedicated to Heracles and his funeral pyre (Πυρὰ Ἡρακλέους), as well as an altar and ruins of adjacent buildings, still survive at the entrance of the Katavothra plateau at a height of 1,800 m, near the village of Pavliani. The temple complex remained in use until late Roman times.