What is the Trojan Horse?

What is the Trojan Horse?

The Trojan Horse was a huge wooden horse used to end the 10-year war in Troy.

The Greeks spent 10 years trying to capture the city of Troy, in Asia, unsuccessfully.

Eventually the most cunning Greek, Ulysses, had an idea. The Greeks built a huge, hollow, wooden horse. And some of the bravest warriors hid inside its belly.

The Greeks left the horse outside the gates of Troy, saying they had had enough of the war and were going back to Greece. And that the horse was a farewell gift to please the gods. Then they left their camp and sailed to a nearby island.

On the Trojan side, Cassandra, Capys, and Laocoon warned against the horse, but to no avail. The Trojans decided to bring the ‘gift’ inside the city walls.

That night, the Greek soldiers climbed down from the horse and opened the gates of the city. Their compatriots had sailed back from the island and were outside Troy’s gates, waiting. They stormed the city, sacked it, and burned it.

The Trojan War probably took place some 4,000 years ago. The tale of the horse is most likely fictitious and is told in the Greek book The Odyssey (8th century BC) and the Roman book The Aeneid (1st century AD).

The episode was a favorite of artists, who depicted it in vases and other objects.

Trojan horse gallery

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2020-12-12
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