Source Verification: Sinon
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Did Sinon know about the Trojan Horse?
Yes. He was left behind because he knew. In Apollodorus's Epitome the Greeks put their best men inside the horse, burn their tents and leave Sinon to light a beacon. In Virgil's Aeneid he invents a story to make the Trojans take the horse in, and at night he lets the hidden Greeks out of it. His whole role depends on knowing what the horse holds.
Source: Apollodorus, Epitome 5.15-5.19
Who is Sinon in the Trojan War?
He is the Greek who deceives Troy. When the fleet feigns retreat, Sinon stays behind and is taken prisoner. In Virgil's Aeneid, he persuades Priam that the horse is a religious offering, which convinces the Trojans to drag it into their city. He then helps the hidden warriors out. He is not a major fighter. Both Virgil and Apollodorus treat him as the plan's inside man.
Source: Virgil, Aeneid 2.145-2.194
What happened to Sinon after Troy fell?
The ancient sources checked for this page do not say. Virgil's Aeneid follows Sinon only to the night he opens the horse, and Apollodorus's Epitome stops at his beacon on Achilles's grave. Quintus Smyrnaeus gives the Trojans' treatment of him before the fall, when they cut off his ears and nose. No fate after the sack appears in any of these accounts.
Source: Virgil, Aeneid 2.250-2.267
Where Accounts Differ
- what Sinon did at Troy
- how the Trojans treated Sinon
- whether Homer names Sinon
- what the horse was for
- Sinon's task is told two ways. Virgil (Aeneid 2.57-2.198, 2.250-2.267) gives him the captive's speech to Priam and makes him the one who lets the Greeks out of the horse. Apollodorus (Epitome 5.15-5.19) says only that he was left to light a beacon and that he lit it on the grave of Achilles.
- His treatment by the Trojans differs. In Virgil (Aeneid 2.57-2.76) he is bound and questioned, and no mutilation is described. Quintus Smyrnaeus (Posthomerica 12) has the Trojans cut off his ears and nose. This page cites Quintus by work and book only, because his lines were not checked against a registered text.
- The Odyssey never names Sinon in the horse passages checked (4.271-4.289, 8.492-8.520 and the nearby lines). In those passages Odysseus is among the men hidden inside, and the Trojans themselves drag the horse in.
- The horse's meaning is given two ways. Apollodorus (Epitome 5.15) says the inscription read as a thank-offering to Athena for a safe homecoming. Virgil's Sinon (Aeneid 2.145-2.194) says the horse atones for the theft of the Palladium. The second is his lie, told to Priam.
Sources
- Virgil, Aeneid 2.57-2.76
- Virgil, Aeneid 2.77-2.104
- Virgil, Aeneid 2.105-2.144
- Virgil, Aeneid 2.145-2.194
- Virgil, Aeneid 2.195-2.233
- Virgil, Aeneid 2.250-2.267
- Apollodorus, Epitome 5.15-5.19
- Homer, Odyssey 4.271-4.289
- Homer, Odyssey 8.492-8.520