Trojan Horse
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The Trojan Horse is part of the myth of the Trojan War, though it does not figure in the part of the war narrated in Homer's Iliad.
The Greek siege of Troy had lasted for ten years. The Greeks devised a new ruse - a giant hollow wooden horse. It was built by Epeius and filled with Greek warriors led by Odysseus. The rest of the Greek army appeared to leave whilst actually hiding behind Tenedos and the Trojans accepted the horse as a peace offering. A Greek spy, Sinon, convinced the Trojans the horse was a gift despite the warnings of Laocoon and Cassandra. Helen and Deiphobus even investigated the horse. The Trojans celebrated the raising of the siege hugely, and when the Greeks emerged from the horse the city was in a drunken stupor. The Greek warriors opened the city gates to allow the rest of the army access and the city was ruthlessly pillaged - all the men were killed and all the women taken into slavery.
There is a small museum founded in 1955 within the territories of ancient city Troy, near the Dardanelles (present-day Turkey). The museum includes the remnants of the city and a symbolic wooden horse built in the garden of the museum to depict the legendary Trojan horse.
Based on this mythological episode, we get the term, Trojan horse, in which a supposed talent or apparent advantage is actually a curse, or "Trojan horse" tactics which are underhand. The term can also refer to a "sneak attack" in general. We also get the Latin phrase "timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" (literally, I fear the Greeks even when they are bringing gifts or figuratively, Beware of Greeks bearing gifts) spoken by Laocoon in Virgil's Aeneid which tells the story of the Trojans during and after the Trojan Horse affair.
- For the computing use of the term, see Trojan horse (computing).
- The Trojan Horse is a movie about the alleged PLO strategy in the course of Arab-Israeli conflict.
ca:Cavall de Trolla da:Den trojanske hest de:Trojanisches Pferd es:Caballo de Troya fr:Cheval de Troie ja:トロイの木馬 nl:Trojaans paard pl:Koń trojański
