Trojan Horse
The Trojan Horse is the hollow wooden statue the Greeks used to smuggle armed men inside the walls of Troy after ten years of failing to take the city by direct siege.
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In Practice
Homer's Odyssey already treats the story as familiar rather than new when the bard Demodocus sings of it at the court of the Phaeacians: he tells of "the making of the Horse of Wood, that Epeius made with Athena's help," which noble Odysseus had dragged inside the citadel, filled with the men who would sack the city. Homer credits the plan to Odysseus and the construction itself to Epeius, working under the goddess's direct guidance, and treats the horse's hollow interior full of warriors as the entire point of the device rather than a twist to be revealed later. Apollodorus's Epitome gives the fullest surviving prose account of what happened once the horse was built. The Greeks placed their best fighters inside under Odysseus's command, inscribed on the horse itself a dedication reading that the Greeks were giving it to Athena as a thank-offering for their safe return home, then burned their own camp and sailed off to hide behind the island of Tenedos, leaving behind a single man, Sinon, whose job was to signal them later. When the Trojans found the beach empty the next morning, they dragged the horse to the middle of the city, and Apollodorus records real disagreement breaking out immediately: Cassandra warned that armed men were hidden inside it, backed by the seer Laocoon, and some Trojans wanted to burn the horse or throw it off a cliff, but most chose to keep it as a sacred dedication and turned to feasting instead. Apollodorus and Virgil's Aeneid do not agree on what happened to Laocoon next, which is worth keeping straight rather than blending into one version. Apollodorus's account has Apollo send two sea serpents that kill only Laocoon's sons, treating it as a sign confirming his warning rather than punishing him for giving it. Virgil's much later and far more famous telling has Laocoon hurl his own spear into the horse's flank while shouting his warning, and has serpents come from the sea and kill Laocoon along with both his sons, widely read as the goddess Minerva's punishment for that spear-throw rather than a sign in Laocoon's favor. In both versions night falls, the Trojans sleep off their feast, Sinon lights his signal fire on Achilles's grave to guide the returning fleet, and the men hidden inside the horse climb out to open the gates from within.
Who actually built the Trojan Horse, and whose idea was it?
Homer's Odyssey credits the idea to Odysseus and the construction to Epeius, working with Athena's direct help, in the earliest surviving reference to the device, sung by the bard Demodocus as a story already well known to his audience.
Homer, Odyssey 8.492-495
How did the Greeks get the horse inside Troy's walls if the Trojans suspected it was a trap?
Apollodorus records real internal disagreement: Cassandra and the seer Laocoon both warned that armed men were hidden inside it, and some Trojans argued for burning it or throwing it off a cliff. The majority overruled them, choosing instead to treat it as a sacred dedication to Athena and turning to feasting, which is what let the trap succeed.
Apollodorus, Epitome 5.16-17
What was inscribed on the horse itself?
A dedication stating that the Greeks were giving it to Athena as a thank-offering for their safe return home, an inscription meant to explain the horse's presence to the Trojans and encourage them to treat it as a religious object rather than a weapon.
Apollodorus, Epitome 5.15
Does Laocoon die for warning the Trojans about the horse?
It depends on which ancient source is being read. Apollodorus's Epitome has Apollo send serpents that kill only Laocoon's two sons, presenting it as a sign confirming his warning was right. Virgil's Aeneid, written centuries later, instead has Laocoon himself die alongside his sons after throwing a spear into the horse's side, a version usually read as the goddess Minerva punishing him for attacking her sacred offering.
Apollodorus, Epitome 5.18
Where Accounts Differ
- two sources, two different fates for Laocoon
- Apollodorus and Virgil's Aeneid disagree on Laocoon's fate: Apollodorus has Apollo's serpents kill only his sons as a sign confirming his warning, while Virgil has Laocoon die alongside them, usually read as Minerva punishing his spear-throw at the horse. This entry follows Apollodorus's version in its own narrative and states the difference directly rather than combining the two into one account.
Where This Appears
Sources
- Homer, Odyssey 8.492-495
- Apollodorus, Epitome 5.15
- Apollodorus, Epitome 5.16-17
- Apollodorus, Epitome 5.18
- Apollodorus, Epitome 5.19-20