The Fall of Troy

The Iliad ends before Troy falls, so the plan first appears in the Odyssey. At the Phaeacian court the bard Demodocus sings of the wooden horse that Epeius built with Athena's help and that Odysseus brought into the citadel full of men (Homer, Odyssey 8.492-520).

Apollodorus gives the preparations in order. Odysseus devises the horse, and Epeius builds it from timber cut on Mount Ida, with a hollow body and an opening in its side (Epitome 5.14). The chosen men go in under Odysseus. An inscription dedicates the horse to Athena as a thank-offering for the Greeks' return. The rest burn their tents and sail to Tenedos, and Sinon stays behind to light a signal (Epitome 5.15).

In Apollodorus, the Trojans find the camp empty at dawn and drag the horse to Priam's palace. Cassandra and the seer Laocoon warn that armed men are inside. Some Trojans want to burn the horse or throw it from a cliff. Most prefer to spare it as a votive offering, and the city holds sacrifices and feasts (Epitome 5.16-5.17). Then two serpents swim over from the nearby islands and devour Laocoon's two sons (Epitome 5.18).

Virgil tells the same night through Aeneas, and he makes it longer. Laocoon runs down from the citadel, warns the Trojans not to trust the horse, and hurls his spear into its flank (Aeneid 2.40-56). Shepherds then drag in the bound Greek Sinon, and his false story persuades Priam (Aeneid 2.57-194). Aeneas sums up the result in his own words.

Virgil then lets Laocoon die. As he sacrifices a bull to Neptune, two serpents come over the sea from Tenedos and kill him and both sons (Aeneid 2.199-231). The Trojans conclude that he was punished for striking the sacred horse. They open a breach in their own wall to bring it in. The horse stalls four times in the gateway and the armour inside rings, but nobody stops. Cassandra warns of the coming fall and is not believed (Aeneid 2.234-249).

Quintus Smyrnaeus tells the horse's making and entry in Book 12 of the Posthomerica, and differs from both. Athena helps Epeius in a dream. Neoptolemus enters the horse first and Epeius last. The Trojans torture Sinon, who keeps to his story. Athena blinds Laocoon before the serpents kill his sons. The Trojans pull down part of their own walls to bring the horse in, and Cassandra tries to burn it and is held back (Posthomerica 12).

In Apollodorus, the Greeks return from Tenedos once the city sleeps, and Sinon lights the beacon on the grave of Achilles. Helen walks around the horse and imitates the wives of the chiefs to lure the men out. Anticlus is about to answer, and Odysseus clamps his hand over his mouth (Epitome 5.19). Menelaus tells the same story in the Odyssey (Homer, Odyssey 4.271-289). Echion dies leaping from the horse. The others let themselves down by rope, open the gates and admit the army from Tenedos (Epitome 5.20). Virgil gives the opening of the horse to Sinon (Aeneid 2.250-267).

In Book 2 Aeneas meanwhile dreams of Hector, who warns him that Troy is falling and tells him to flee (Aeneid 2.268-297).

The sack follows. The Greeks kill the sleeping inhabitants. In Apollodorus, Neoptolemus kills Priam at the altar of Zeus of the Courtyard. Menelaus kills Deiphobus and leads Helen to the ships, and the Locrian Ajax violates Cassandra as she clings to the wooden image of Athena (Epitome 5.21-5.22). The Odyssey also puts Odysseus and Menelaus together at the house of Deiphobus (Homer, Odyssey 8.492-520). Virgil's Pyrrhus, another name for Neoptolemus, kills Priam's son Polites before his parents and then Priam at the altar (Aeneid 2.469-558). The Greeks burn the city and divide the spoils (Epitome 5.23).