Trojan Horse

Statue of the Trojan horse. Handmade of alabaster,and painted in museum patina.

The Trojan Horse is the subterfuge that the Greeks used to enter the independent city of Troy and win the war.  There is no Trojan Horse in the original poems by Homer about the Trojan War.  And the conclusion of the story is marked by the retrieval of Hector’s corpse (a great Trojan hero).  By his father, Priam (king of Troy), from the willing hands of Achilles (the Greek general).   Although under the watchful and disagreeable eye of Agamemnon. The implication is that the Trojan War ended in amicable peace.

After a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks at the behest of Odysseus constructed a huge wooden horse .  And hid a select force of men inside, including Odysseus himself. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army.   The Greeks entered and destroyed the city of Troy, ending the war.

Metaphorically, a “Trojan horse” has come to mean any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place. A malicious computer program that tricks users into willingly running .

The myth of  Laocoon

 Sinon, the only volunteer for the role, successfully convinces the Trojans that he has been left behind .  And that the Greeks are gone. Sinon tells the Trojans that the Horse is an offering to the goddess Athena .  It meant to atone for the previous desecration of her temple at Troy.  By the Greeks and ensure a safe journey home for the Greek fleet. Sinon tells the Trojans that the Horse was built to be too large for them to take it into their city and gain the favor of Athena for themselves.

While questioning Sinon, the Trojan priest Laocoön guesses the plot and warns the Trojans.  In Virgil’s famous line Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes (“I fear Greeks, even those bearing gifts”). Danai (acc Danaos) or Danaans (Homer’s name for the Greeks) being the ones who had built the Trojan Horse. However, the god Poseidon sends two sea serpents to strangle him and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus before any Trojan heeds his warning.  According to Apollodorus the two serpents were sent by Apollo, whom Laocoon had insulted by sleeping with his wife in front of the “divine image”.