Editing Trojan Horse

{{short description|Wooden horse in Greek mythology}}
{{About|the mythological Trojan Horse|the type of malware|Trojan horse (computing)|other uses|Trojan Horse (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
[[File:Mykonos vase.jpg|thumb|The [[Mykonos vase]] (750 to 650 BC), with one of the earliest known renditions of the Trojan Horse (note the depiction of the faces of hidden warriors shown on the horse's side)]]
{{Trojan War}}
In [[Greek mythology]], the '''Trojan Horse''' ({{Langx|el|δούρειος ίππος|doureios hippos|wooden horse}}) was a wooden [[horse]] said to have been used by the Greeks during the [[Trojan War]] to enter the city of [[Troy]] and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in [[Homer|Homer's]] ''[[Iliad]]'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, and it is only briefly mentioned in the ''[[Odyssey]]''. It is described at length in the ''[[Aeneid]]'', in which [[Virgil]] recounts how, after a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse at the behest of [[Odysseus]], and hid a select force of men inside, including Odysseus himself. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night, the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under the cover of darkness. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city, ending the war.

[[Metaphor]]ically, a "Trojan horse" has come to mean any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place. A [[Malware|malicious computer program]] that tricks users into willingly running it is also called a "[[Trojan horse (computing)|Trojan horse]]" or simply a "Trojan".

The main ancient source for the story still extant is the ''Aeneid'' of Virgil, a [[Latin]] [[epic poem]] from the time of [[Augustus]]. The story featured heavily in the ''[[Little Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Iliupersis|Sack of Troy]]'', both part of the [[Epic Cycle]], but these have only survived in fragments and [[epitome]]s. As Odysseus was the chief architect of the Trojan Horse, it is also referred to in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Broeniman|first1=Clifford|date=1996|title=Demodocus, Odysseus, and the Trojan War in "Odyssey" 8|journal=The Classical World|volume=90|issue=1|pages=3–13|jstor=4351895|doi=10.2307/4351895}}</ref>
In the Greek tradition, the horse is called the "wooden horse" ({{Lang|grc|δουράτεος ἵππος}} {{Lang|grc-Latn|douráteos híppos}} in [[Homeric Greek|Homeric]]/[[Ionic Greek]] (''Odyssey'' 8.512); {{Lang|grc|δούρειος ἵππος}}, {{Lang|grc-Latn|doúreios híppos}} in [[Attic Greek]]). In [[Dictys Cretensis|Dictys Cretensis']] account, the idea of the Trojan Horse's construction comes from [[Helenus of Troy|Helenus]], who prophesies that the Greeks must dedicate a wooden horse to Athena.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cretensis |first=Dictys |title=5.9 |url=https://www.theoi.com/Text/DictysCretensis5.html |access-date=2024-01-12 |website=www.theoi.com}}</ref>

==Warriors in the horse==
Thirty of the Achaeans' best warriors hid in the Trojan horse's womb and two spies in its mouth. Other sources give different numbers: The ''Bibliotheca'' 50;<ref name=":1">[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Pseudo-Apollodorus]], ''[[Epitome]]'' 5.14</ref> [[Tzetzes]] 23;<ref name=":2">[[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''Posthomerica'' 641–650</ref> and Quintus Smyrnaeus gives the names of 30, but says there were more.<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''The Fall of Troy'' xii.314–335</ref> In late tradition, the number was standardized at 40. Their names follow:
{| class="wikitable"
|+List of Achaeans in the Trojan Horse
! rowspan="2" |Names
! colspan="4" |Sources
|-
|''Quintus''
|''Hyginus''
|''Tryphiodorus''
|''Tzetzes''
|-
|[[Odysseus]] (leader)
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Acamas (son of Theseus)|Acamas]]
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Agapenor]]
|✓
|
|
|
|-
|[[Ajax the Lesser]]
|✓
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Amphidamas]] 
|
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Amphimachus#Greek warrior|Amphimachus]]
|✓
|
|
|
|-
|[[Anticlus]]
|✓
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|Antimachus
|✓
|
|
|
|-
|[[Antiphates]]
|
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Calchas]] 
|
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Cyanippus]]
|
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Demophon of Athens|Demophon]]
|✓
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Diomedes]]
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Echion]]
|
|
|
|
|-
|[[Epeius of Phocis|Epeius]]
|✓
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Eumelus (son of Admetus)|Eumelus]]
|✓
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Euryalus]]
|✓
|
|
|
|-
|[[Eurydamas]]
|
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Eurymachus]]
|✓
|
|
|
|-
|[[Eurypylus (king of Thessaly)|Eurypylus]]
|✓
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Ialmenus]]
|✓
|
|
|
|-
|[[Idomeneus]]
|✓
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Iphidamas]]
|
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Leonteus (mythology)|Leonteus]]
|✓
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Machaon (mythology)|Machaon]]
|
|✓
|
|
|-
|[[Meges]]
|✓
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Menelaus]]
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Menestheus]]
|✓
|
|
|
|-
|[[Meriones (mythology)|Meriones]]
|✓
|
|
|
|-
|[[Neoptolemus]]
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Peneleos]]
|
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Philoctetes]]
|✓
|
|
|
|-
|[[Podalirius]]
|✓
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|
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|-
|[[Polypoetes]]
|✓
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|-
|[[Sthenelus]]
|✓
|✓
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|-
|[[Teucer]]
|✓
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Thalpius]]
|✓
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|
|
|-
|[[Thersander]]
|
|✓
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|
|-
|[[Thoas (king of Aetoila)|Thoas]]
|✓
|✓
|
|
|-
|[[Thrasymedes (mythology)|Thrasymedes]]
|✓
|
|✓
|✓
|-
!Number
!30
!9
!23
!23
|}

== Literary accounts ==
[[File:RomanVirgilFolio101r.jpg|thumb|Sinon is brought to Priam, from folio 101r of the [[Roman Vergil]].]]
According to [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], [[Odysseus]] thought of building a great wooden horse (the horse being the emblem of Troy), hiding an elite force inside, and fooling the Trojans into wheeling the horse into the city as a trophy. Under the leadership of [[Epeius of Phocis|Epeius]], the Greeks built the wooden horse in three days. Odysseus's plan called for one man to remain outside the horse; he would act as though the Greeks had abandoned him, leaving the horse as a gift for the Trojans. An inscription was engraved on the horse reading: "For their return home, the Greeks dedicate this offering to Athena". Then they burned their tents and left to Tenedos by night. Greek soldier [[Sinon]] was "abandoned" and was to signal to the Greeks by lighting a beacon.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]], Epitome, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+Epit.+E.5.15&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 e.5.15]</ref>

In Virgil's poem, Sinon, the only volunteer for the role, successfully convinces the Trojans that he has been left behind and that the Greeks are gone. Sinon tells the Trojans that the Horse is an offering to the goddess [[Athena]], meant to atone for the previous desecration of her temple at Troy by the Greeks and ensure a safe journey home for the Greek fleet. Sinon tells the Trojans that the Horse was built to be too large for them to take it into their city and gain the favor of Athena for themselves.

While questioning Sinon, the Trojan priest [[Laocoön]] guesses the plot and warns the Trojans, in Virgil's famous line ''[[Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes]]'' ("I fear Greeks, even those bearing gifts"),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilAeneidII.htm#_Toc536009311 |title=Virgil:Aeneid II |publisher=Poetryintranslation.com |access-date=10 August 2012}}</ref> Danai ({{smallcaps|[[accusative|'''acc''']]}} ''Danaos'') or [[Danaans]] (Homer's name for the Greeks) being the ones who had built the Trojan Horse. However, the god [[Poseidon]] sends two sea serpents to strangle him and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus before any Trojan heeds his warning. According to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], the two serpents were sent by [[Apollo]], whom Laocoön had insulted by sleeping with his wife in front of the "divine image".<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D18 Epit. E.5.18]</ref> In the ''Odyssey'', Homer says that [[Helen of Troy]] also guesses the plot and tries to trick and uncover the Greek soldiers inside the horse by imitating the voices of their wives, and [[Anticlus]] attempts to answer, but Odysseus shuts his mouth with his hand.<ref>Homer, Odyssey, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D4%3Acard%3D265 4. 274–289].</ref> [[Priam|King Priam's]] daughter [[Cassandra]], the [[Fortune-telling|soothsayer]] of Troy, insists that the horse will be the downfall of the city and its royal family. She too is ignored, hence their doom and loss of the war.<ref>Virgil. ''The Aeneid''. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Everyman's Library, 1992.  Print.</ref>

This incident is mentioned in the ''[[Odyssey]]'':

{{poemquote|What a thing was this, too, which that mighty man wrought and endured in the carven horse, wherein all we chiefs of the [[Argives]] were sitting, bearing to the Trojans death and fate!<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=hom.+od.+4.271&redirect=true|title=Homer, The Odyssey, Scroll 4, line 21|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=2020-04-13}}</ref>

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 Ilios.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136:book=8:card=469|title=Homer, Odyssey, Book 8, line 469|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=2020-04-13}}</ref>}}

The most detailed and most familiar version is in Virgil's ''Aeneid'', Book II<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilAeneidII.htm#_Toc536009309|title=Virgil|work=poetryintranslation.com}}</ref> (trans. A. S. Kline).

{{poemquote|After many years have slipped by, the leaders of the Greeks,
opposed by the Fates, and damaged by the war,
build a horse of mountainous size, through Pallas's divine art,
and weave planks of fir over its ribs
they pretend it's a votive offering: this rumour spreads.
They secretly hide a picked body of men, chosen by lot,
there, in the dark body, filling the belly and the huge
cavernous insides with armed warriors.
[...]
Then Laocoön rushes down eagerly from the heights
of the citadel, to confront them all, a large crowd with him,
and shouts from far off: "O unhappy citizens, what madness?
Do you think the enemy's sailed away? Or do you think
any Greek gift's free of treachery? Is that Ulysses's reputation?
Either there are Greeks in hiding, concealed by the wood,
or it's been built as a machine to use against our walls,
or spy on our homes, or fall on the city from above,
or it hides some other trick: Trojans, don't trust this horse.
Whatever it is, I'm afraid of Greeks even those bearing gifts."}}

Book II includes [[Laocoön]] saying: "{{Lang|la|[[Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes|Equo ne credite, Teucri. Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.]]}}" ("Do not trust the horse, Trojans!  Whatever it is, I fear the [[Danaans]] [Greeks], even those bearing gifts.")

Well before Virgil, the story is also alluded to in Greek classical literature. In [[Euripides]]' play ''[[Trojan Women]]'', written in 415 BC, the god Poseidon proclaims: "For, from his home beneath Parnassus, Phocian Epeus, aided by the craft of Pallas, framed a horse to bear within its womb an armed host, and sent it within the battlements, fraught with death; whence in days to come men shall tell of 'the wooden horse,' with its hidden load of warriors."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://classics.mit.edu/Euripides/troj_women.html |title=The Trojan Women, Euripides |publisher=Classics.mit.edu |access-date=10 August 2012}}</ref>
[[File:Trojan horse in Canakkale, Turkey.jpg|thumb|A replica of the Trojan Horse, used in the 2004 film ''[[Troy (film)|Troy]]'', stands today in [[Çanakkale]], Turkey, the modern-day location of the city of Troy.]]

== Factual explanations ==
[[File:Hippos 2.jpg|thumb|right|The Phoenician ship called ''hippos'', from the Assyrian city of Khorsabad, 8th century BC]]

It has been speculated that the story of the Trojan Horse resulted from later poets creatively misunderstanding an actual historical use of a [[siege engine]] at Troy. Animal names are often used for military machinery, as with the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[onager (weapon)|onager]] and various Bronze Age [[Ancient Assyrians|Assyrian]] siege engines which were often covered with dampened horse hides to protect against flaming arrows.<ref>[[Michael Wood (historian)|Michael Wood]], in his book "In search of the Trojan war" {{ISBN|978-0-520-21599-3}} (which was shown on BBC TV as a series)</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], who lived in the 2nd century AD, wrote in 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]]";<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=paus.+1.1.1 |title= Pausanias, Description of Greece 1, XXIII,8 |publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=10 August 2012}}</ref> by the Phrygians, he meant the Trojans.

Some authors have suggested that the gift might also have been a ship, with warriors hidden inside.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Troy c. 1700–1250 BC|url=https://archive.org/details/troycbc00fiel_226|url-access=limited|last=Fields|first=Nic|date=2004|publisher=Osprey|others=Spedaliere, Donato and Spedaliere, Sarah Sulemsohn (illustrators)|isbn=1841767034|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/troycbc00fiel_226/page/n27 51]–52|oclc=56321915}}</ref> It has been noted that the terms used to put men in the horse are those used by ancient Greek authors to describe the embarkation of men on a ship and that there are analogies between the building of ships by [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] at the beginning of the Trojan saga and the building of the horse at the end;<ref>See pages 22–26 in ''The fall of Troy in early Greek poetry and art'', Michael John Anderson, Oxford University Press, 1997</ref> ships are called "sea-horses" once in the ''Odyssey''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=de Arbulo Bayona|first=Joaquin Ruiz|date=2009|title=LOS NAVEGANTES Y LO SAGRADO. EL BARCO DE TROYA. NUEVOS ARGUMENTOS PARA UNA EXPLICACION NAUTICA DEL CABALLO DE MADERA|url=https://www.academia.edu/download/28980666/Ruiz_de_Arbulo_EL_BARCO_DE_TROYA.pdf|journal=Arqueología Náutica Mediterránea, Monografies del CASC|location=Girona|volume=8|pages=535–551}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> This view has recently gained support from naval archaeology:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tiboni |first=Francesco |date=2016 |title=The Dourateos Ippos from allegory to Archaeology: a Phoenician Ship to break the Wall |url=https://doi.org/10.1400/243397 |journal=Archaeologia Maritima Mediterranea  |issue=13 |doi=10.1400/243397}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A5lBDwAAQBAJ&q=tiboni+francesco|title=Atti del 2° convegno nazionale. Cultura navale e marittima transire mare 22–23 settembre 2016|last=Tiboni|first=Francesco|date=5 December 2017|publisher=goWare|isbn=9788867979042|editor-last=Morozzo della Rocca|editor-first=Maria Carola|language=it|chapter=La marineria fenicia nel Mediterraneo nella prima Età del ferro: il tipo navale Hippos|editor-last2=Tiboni|editor-first2=Francesco}}</ref> ancient text and images show that a Phoenician merchant ship type decorated with a horse head, called ''hippos'' ('horse') by Greeks, became very diffuse in the [[Levant]] area around the beginning of the 1st millennium BC and was used to trade precious metals and sometimes to pay tribute after the end of a war.<ref name=":0" /> That has caused the suggestion that the original story viewed the Greek soldiers hiding inside the hull of such a vessel, possibly disguised as a tribute, and that the term was later misunderstood in the oral transmission of the story, the origin to the Trojan horse myth.

Ships with a horsehead decoration, perhaps cult ships, are also represented in artifacts of the [[Minoan]]/[[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] era;<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.salimbeti.com/micenei/ships.htm|title=The Greek Age of Bronze - Ships|access-date=2020-08-23|last=Salimbeti|first=A}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Seagoing Ships and Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant|last=Wachsmann|first=Shelley|year=2008|publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=978-1603440806}}</ref> the image<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/evans1935a/0477|title=Minoan transport vessel with figure of horse superimposed}}</ref> on a seal found in the palace of Knossos, dated around 1200 BC, which depicts a ship with oarsmen and a superimposed horse figure, originally interpreted as a representation of horse transport by sea,<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Palace of Minos: a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustrated by the discoveries at Knossos|last=Evans|first=Arthur|year=1935|pages=827|volume=4}}</ref> may in fact be related to this kind of vessel, and even be considered as the first (pre-literary) representation of the Trojan Horse episode.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The Trojan Horse reconstruction|journal=Mechanism and Machine Theory|last=Chondros|first=Thomas G|volume=90|pages=261–282|year=2015|doi=10.1016/j.mechmachtheory.2015.03.015}}</ref>

A more speculative theory, originally proposed by [[Fritz Schachermeyr]], is that the Trojan Horse is a metaphor for a destructive [[earthquake]] that damaged the walls of Troy and allowed the [[Greeks]] inside.<ref name="Quake">{{cite book|title=The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction|author=Eric H. Cline|year=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199333820}}</ref> In his theory, the horse represents [[Poseidon]], who as well as being god of the sea was also god of horses and earthquakes. The theory is supported by the fact that archaeological digs have found that [[Troy#Troy VI and VII|Troy VI]] was heavily damaged in an [[earthquake]]<ref name="Quake"/> but is hard to square with the mythological claim that [[Poseidon#Walls of Troy|Poseidon himself built the walls of Troy]] in the first place.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Brief Guide to Classical Civilization|author=Stephen Kershaw|year=2010|publisher=Little, Brown Book |isbn=978-1849018005}}</ref>

==Ancient representations==
Pictorial representations of the Trojan Horse earlier than, or contemporary to, the first literary appearances of the episode can help clarify what was the meaning of the story as perceived by its contemporary audience. There are few ancient (before 480 BC) depictions of the Trojan Horse surviving.<ref name="BA Sparkes">{{Cite journal|last=Sparkes|first=B. A.|date=1971|title=The Trojan Horse in Classical Art1|journal=Greece & Rome|volume=18|issue=1|pages=54–70|doi=10.1017/S001738350001768X|s2cid=162853081 |issn=1477-4550}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sadurska|first=Anna|date=1986|title=Equus Trojanus|journal=Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|location=Zürich|volume=3,1|pages=813–817}}</ref> The earliest is on a Boeotian [[fibula (brooch)|fibula]] dating from about 700 BC.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/catalogueofbronz00brit|title=Catalogue of the bronzes, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan, in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum|last1=British Museum. Dept. of Greek and Roman Antiquities|last2=Walters|first2=Henry Beauchamp|date=1899|publisher=London, Printed by order of the Trustees|others=Wellesley College Library|pages=374}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p019b4wl/p0199bsc|title=Bronze bow fibula (brooch) with a glimpse of the Trojan Horse with wheels under feet – Images for Mary Beard's Cultural Exchange – Front Row's Cultural Exchange – BBC Radio 4|website=BBC|access-date=3 November 2017}}</ref> Other early depictions are found on two [[relief]] [[pithos|pithoi]] from the Greek islands [[Mykonos]] and [[Tinos]], both generally dated between 675 and 650 BC. The one from Mykonos (see figure) is known as the [[Mykonos vase]].<ref name="BA Sparkes" /><ref>{{cite journal|last=Caskey|first=Miriam Ervin|title=Notes on Relief Pithoi of the Tenian-Boiotian Group|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|date=Winter 1976|volume=80|issue=1|pages=19–41|jstor=502935|doi=10.2307/502935|s2cid=191406489 }}</ref> Historian [[Michael Wood (historian)|Michael Wood]] dates the Mykonos vase to the eighth century BC, before the written accounts attributed by tradition to [[Homer]], and posits this as evidence that the story of the Trojan Horse existed before those accounts were written.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wood|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Wood (historian)|title=In Search of the Trojan War|year=1985|publisher=BBC books|location=London|isbn=978-0-563-20161-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/trent_0116300590720_1985/page/80 80; 251]|url=https://archive.org/details/trent_0116300590720_1985/page/80}}</ref> Other archaic representations of the Trojan horse are found on a [[Corinth]]ian [[aryballos]] dating back to 560 BC<ref name="BA Sparkes" /> (see figure), on a vase fragment to 540 BC (see figure), and on an Etruscan carnelian scarab.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253376|title=Carnelian scarab {{!}} Etruscan, Populonia {{!}} Late Archaic {{!}} The Met|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum|access-date=27 November 2017}}</ref> An Attic red-figure fragment from a kalyx-krater dated to around 400 BC depicts the scene where the Greeks are climbing down the Trojan Horse,  represented by the wooden hatch door.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Peixoto |first=Gabriel B. |date=2022 |title=The Depiction of Temples in Attic Red Figure: from mid-5th to mid-4th century BCE |url=https://rgdoi.net/10.13140/RG.2.2.27930.31687 |language=en |doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.27930.31687}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="200" perrow="4" mode="packed">
File:Catalogue of the bronzes, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan, in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum (1899) (14780940341).jpg|The earliest known depiction of the Trojan Horse,<ref name="BA Sparkes" /> on a bronze fibula (ca. 700 BC), note the wheels and the square openings on the horse's side
File:Trojan horse on Corinthian aryballos.jpg|Depiction of the Trojan Horse on a Corinthian [[aryballos]] (ca. 560 BC) found in [[Cerveteri]] (Italy)
File:Antikensammlung Berlin 405.JPG|Warriors leaving the Trojan Horse, fragment of an attic black-figure [[krater]] from [[Orbetello]] (Italy), ca. 540 BC
</gallery>

==Modern metaphorical use==
The term "Trojan horse" is used metaphorically to mean any trick or strategy that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected place; or to deceive by appearance, hiding malevolent intent in an outwardly benign exterior; to subvert from within using deceptive means.<ref>{{cite web |title=Trojan horse |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/trojan-horse |access-date=9 October 2019 |website=Collins English Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=a Trojan horse |url=https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/a+Trojan+horse |access-date=9 October 2019 |website=The Free Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Trojan horse |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Trojan%20horse |access-date=9 October 2019 |website=Merriam Webster}}</ref>

== Citations ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Greek religion|state=collapsed}}
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[[Category:Aeneid]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek technology]]
[[Category:Horses in culture]]
[[Category:Individual wooden objects]]
[[Category:Military deception]]
[[Category:Objects in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Odyssey]]
[[Category:Sparta]]
[[Category:Trojan War]]