Some personalities stand the test of time. Famous. We all know who Cleopatra is. And Napoleon. Darwin. Aristotle. But animals don’t usually make those lasting impressions. There are a few famous movie dogs. And as far as horses go, we remember a few of the good racers, like Secretariat. If we are old enough, we know Mr. Ed.
But who could ever forget the most famous horse of all? Albeit it wasn’t a live animal. It was that Trojan Horse. Yes. The big wooden fellow who helped the Greeks win the Trojan War.
It was on this date, April 24, 1184 BC, when that horse appeared at the gates of Troy with a whole mess of angry Greek soldiers in its belly. Of course, this trickery led to one of the greatest war victories in history.
If you don’t know the to’s and fro’s of the war, here is the backstory. The fighting began when the prince of Troy eloped with the king of Sparta’s wife, Helen. This angered the king. So much so that he said, “Grab your spears, boys. We Greeks are going to kick some Troy butt.”
Yes, the whole thing started over Helen of Troy, formerly known as Helen of Sparta. That war would last for ten years, from 1194 – 1184 B.C. It became one of the most important events in Greek mythology. Many works have been written about it in literature, including Homer, in the Iliad.
It was a big mind trick by the Greeks. A shenanigan. An ace up the old sleeve. But every war must come to an end, according to tradition. And that end came when the city of Troy eventually fell to Greek warriors on April 24, 1184 B.C.
The Greeks pulled off a brilliant hoax. I’ve always heard “brains over brawn.” And, in this case, it was true. The Greeks were known for their intelligence. They were always in their white, off-the-shoulder robes, talking about philosophy and other smarty-pants things.
So they came up with this fast one for the Trojans. Some Greek guys were probably sitting around the campfire one night, munching down gyros, when one of them said. “Hey, let’s build a big hollow horse and ride inside the thing into Troy.” So, the very next day, probably, they used the wood from a tree grove sacred to the god Apollo and created a giant hollow horse with the inscription: “The Greeks dedicate this thank-offering to Athena for their return home.”
Then. One guy knocked on the gate and yelled, “Yooooo Hooooooo,” and ran like crazy. The Trojans cracked open the gate and saw the amazingly giant gift horse. They believed this meant that Greeks had packed up their spears and returned home.
Ah, but that’s not what happened at all. The horse was packed full of Greek warriors, quiet as mice. They were led by the legendary hero, Odysseus, who kept holding his finger up to his mouth and shushing the giddy soldiers. The Trojans couldn’t hear them, so they brought the horse into the city. Mostly because of the big, pretty, red bow.
Those Greek soldiers waited until midnight to emerge. They took Troy’s guards by surprise. In fact, they killed them right there on the spot.
It was all bad news for Troy from there. Troy was rampaged. As with war, hundreds of men, women, and children were slaughtered, tortured, and raped. It was vicious. But, the Greeks emerged victoriously.
As for the lovebirds. Well, this ended sadly too. Ultimately, Prince Paris of Troy was killed in action — the dude Helen fell in love with. There are several different accounts of what happened to Helen. But the way Homer states it, she was reunited with Menelaus. He was the Greek King Menelaus, her original husband.
You can lead a horse to slaughter. But you can’t make him think.
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“Son, the greatest trick the Devil pulled was convincing the world there was only one of him.”
― David Wong, John Dies at the End
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“You must remember, the most important rule of any successful illusion: First, the people must want to believe in it.”
― Libba Bray, The Sweet Far Thing
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“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”
― Desiderius Erasmus
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