Trojan Horse by jekky
Legend
This incident is mentioned in the Odyssey:
What a thing was this, too, which that mighty man wrought and endured in the carven horse, where in all we chiefs of the Argives were sitting, bearing to the Trojans death and fate! 4.271 ff
But come now,change thy theme, and sing of the building of the horse of wood, which Epeius made with Athena’s help, the horse which once Odysseus led up into the citadel as a thing of guile, when he had filled it with the men who sacked Ilion. 8.487 ff (trans. Samuel Butler)
The most detailed and most familiar version is in Virgil’s Aeneid, Book 2 (trans. John Dryden).
By destiny compell’d, and in despair,
The Greeks grew weary of the tedious war,
And by Minerva’s aid a fabric rear’d,
Which like a steed of monstrous height appear’d:
The sides were plank’d with pine; they feign’d it made
For their return, and this the vow they paid.
Thus they pretend, but in the hollow side
Selected numbers of their soldiers hide:
With inward arms the dire machine they load
And iron bowels stuff the dark abode.
[...]
Laocon, follow’d by a num’rous crowd,
Ran from the fort, and cried, from far, aloud:
wretched countrymen! What fury reigns?
What more than madness has possess’d your brains?
Think you the Grecians from your coasts are gone?
And are Ulysses’ arts no better known?
This hollow fabric either must inclose,
Within its blind recess, our secret foes;
Or ‘t is an engine rais’d above the town,
T’ o’erlook the walls, and then to batter down.
Somewhat is sure design’ d, by fraud or force:
Trust not their presents, nor admit the horse.
Fact or fiction
According to Homer, Troy stood overlooking the Hellespont a channel of water that separates Asia Minor and Europe. In the 1870s, Heinrich Schliemann set out to find it.
Following Homer’s description, he started to dig at Hisarlik in Turkey and uncovered the ruins of several cities, built one on top of the other. Several of the cities had been destroyed violently, but is not clear which, if any, was the Troy of Homer’s poetry.
Book II of Virgil’s Aeneid
Book II of Virgil’s Aeneid covers the siege of Troy, and includes these lines spoken by Laocon:
Equo ne credite, Teucri. Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.
Do not trust the horse, Trojans! Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even bringing gifts.
This is the origin of the modern adage “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts”.
Possible explanations
Pausanias, who lived in the 2nd century AD, wrote on his book Description of Greece :
That the work of Epeius was a contrivance to make a breach in the Trojan wall is known to everybody who does not attribute utter silliness to the Phrygians (1,XXIII,8)
where by Phrygians he means the Trojans. There has been some modern speculation that the Trojan Horse may have been a battering ram resembling, to some extent, a horse, and that the description of the use of this device was then transformed into a myth by later oral historians who were not present at the battle and were unaware of that meaning of the name. Assyrians at the time used siege machines with animal names; it is possible that the Trojan Horse was such.[citation needed] It has also been suggested that the Trojan Horse actually represents an earthquake that occurred between the wars that could have weakened Troy’s walls and left them open for attack. Structural damage on Troy VIts location being the same as that represented in Homer’s Iliad and the artifacts found there suggesting it was a place of great trade and powerhows signs that there was indeed an earthquake. Generally, though, Troy VIIa is believed to be Homer’s Troy (see below).
The deity Poseidon had a triple function as a god of the sea, of horses and of earthquakes.
The Trojan horse may also refer to the Trojan cavalry led by Hector. The enemy could have disguised themselves as this cavalry unit and were let back into Troy without question. This interpretation of the Trojan Horse is the one used by author David Gemmell in the third part of his Troy trilogy, Troy: Fall of Kings.
Men in the horse
Thirty soldiers hid in the Trojan horse’s belly and two spies in its mouth. Other sources give different numbers: Apollodorus 50; Tzetzes 23; and Quintus Smyrnaeus gives the names of thirty, but says there were more. In late tradition the number was standardized at 40. Their names follow:
Odysseus (leader)
Agamemnon (king of Mycenae)
Acamas
Agapenor
Ajax the Lesser
Amphimachus
Antiklos
Antiphates
Cyanippus
Demophon
Diomedes
Echion
Epeius
Eumelus
Euryalus
Eurydamas
Eurymachus
Eurypylus
Ialmenus
Idomeneus
Iphidamas
Leonteus
Machaon
Meges
Menelaus
Menestheus
Meriones
Neoptolemus
Peneleus
Philoctetes
Podalirius
Polypoetes
Sinon (hiding near the horse)
Sthenelus
Teucer
Thalpius
Thersander
Thoas
Thrasymedes
Images
Any images or constructions are products of the imagination of the artists, as no images of the horse have survived even from classical times.
Trojan Horse from the movie Troy
Trojan Horse, at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum
Trojan Horse go-kart track in Wisconsin Dells, WI
References
^ http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilAeneidII.htm#_Toc536009311
^ Image
^ Earthquakes toppled ancient cities: 11/12/97
^ Epitome 5.14
^ Posthomerica 641650
^ Posthomerica xii.314-335
See also
Mykonos vase, earliest pottery depiction of the Trojan Horse
Troy (2004 movie)
The Trojan Rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Psychological Operations units of the U.S. Army carry a Trojan Horse in their logo.
Troy: Fall of Kings, final book in the Troy Trilogy by David Gemmell
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trojan horse
The Trojan Horse for Kids: another ancient image of the Trojan Horse.
Movie : Helen of Troy (1956)
Movie : The Trojan Horse (1962)
Movie : Troy (2004)
Categories: Trojans | Trojan War | Aeneid | Greek mythology | Ancient Greek technologyHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from December 2008
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I am an expert from Frbiz Site, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as folding craft table, mahogany folding table.
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