by James Ellyard

Created on: June 07, 2010

The Trojan horse, as we know, has been a story told over hundreds of years; a contraption which led to the fall of the City of Troy, found in modern Turkey. The Trojan horse was successful in many ways. It was designed by the Greek, Odysseus (Ulysses/ Ulixes) who knew that the walls were too strong to be taken by force, and, knowing his intelligence, he would usually go around a wall instead of going from A to B in a straight line and go through it, like other Achaean heroes such as Ajax and Achilles. A number of Greeks hid inside the hollow shell of the machine and infiltrated the city undercover. The Trojans would think that the Greeks had fled after having had a streak of defeats on the battlefield. The wooden horse was a gift to Minerva - as explained by Sinon in the Aeneid; to atone for the violation of the Palladium, to honour the divinity of Minerva, and for the Greeks' sin of sacrilege. No Greek ships were on the beaches because the fleet had moved around the corner to Tenedos, so the coast was, literally, clear for the Trojans. The most information of the legend can be found in the writings of the Roman poet Virgil.

Firstly, the capture of Sinon, a Greek, gives the Trojans encouragement to accept the gift. He gains their trust through his cunning and guile, showing he is as much an enemy to the Greeks as the Trojans because they set him up for sacrifice so that they could sail without storms at sea. Sinon persuades the Trojans to accept the horse.

Secondly, the horse was successful because the Gods will the fall of Troy in the Aeneid, their interventions are key. Virgil writes that Laocoön and Capys are the first to catch on to the plan and there are mixed thoughts whether to allow it into the city. Capys wants it burned or thrown into the sea, and Laocoön throws his spear into its belly. This is hubristic. It is a gift for Minerva and the Priest of Neptune, Laocoön, damages a holy object so when he dies along with his sons when attacked by two vicious sea snakes, the Trojans fear the Gods and show no further objection to the horse.

'I am afraid of Greeks, even when they bear gifts' (Aeneas: Aeneid Bk 2)

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