The Trojan Horse was a huge,
hollow wooden horse constructed by the Greeks to gain entrance into the
City of Troy during the Trojan War in the 12th or 13th century B.C.
This legendary conflict stirred the imagination of the ancient Greeks
more than any other event in their history, and was celebrated in the
Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer, as well as a number of other
early works now lost, and frequently provided material for the great
dramatists of the Classical Age. It also figures in the literature of
the Romans (e.g., Virgil's Aeneid) and of later European
peoples down to the 20th century.
In the traditional accounts, Paris, son
of the Trojan king, ran off with Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta,
whose brother Agamemnon then led a Greek expedition against Troy. The
ensuing war lasted 10 years, finally ending when the Greeks pretended to
withdraw (deserting the war defeated) and sailed to the nearby island of
Tenedos to hide. In doing so, they left behind a large wooden horse
with a raiding party of armed warriors cleverly concealed inside, and
Sinon a Greek who feigned desertion and convinced the Trojans that the
horse was an offering to Athena that would make Troy impregnable.
Despite the warnings from
Laocoon and
Cassandra (qq.v.),
the trojan horse was taken inside the city gates by the
Trojans, who did not realize that Greek army soldiers were hidden
inside. That night, while the Trojans celebrated their victory, the
Greeks snuck out of the belly of the wooden horse, opened the gates to
their comrades (who had returned from Tenedos undiscovered), and
succeeded in conquering Troy.
This version of the story was recorded
centuries later; the extent to which it reflects actual historical
events is not known. It is told at length in Book II of the Aeneid
and is touched upon in the Odyssey.
