Fear the Danaans who bring gifts: the myth of the Trojan Horse. Trojan horse: the meaning of phraseological units

The story of the famous Trojan horse, with the help of which about 30 Odysseus fighters were able to get inside Troy. Historians still argue to this day whether the Horse actually existed.

Eyewitness testimony

During the reign of Emperor Augustine, there lived the ancient Roman writer Virgil. He wrote an epic poem "Aeneid", it was written about the travels of Aeneas from Troy to Italy. Some historians believe that the poet wrote everything from reliable sources. In the end, his poetic testimony about the tragedy of Troy was able to enter into world history, and the phrase “Trojan horse” itself has become a household word. Thus, the military cunning of 30 fighters was able to crush the fortress, which the huge army of King Menelaus could not take.

The attackers, before lifting the siege, informed the Trojans that they had built an amazing wooden "horse" which symbolizes peace, as well as this offering to Athena as a sign of atonement for sins. Also, while the horse is standing, they will not attack. Sinon told the Trojans about all this; he was the cousin of Odysseus, who allegedly went over to the side of the defenders.

Wooden horse

The Trojan horse, judging by the descriptions, was about 8 meters high and about 3 meters wide. A roughly similar model, which was built in our days, weighed about two tons and could accommodate about 20-25 men of average constitution, characteristic of those times. In order to roll such a structure over the logs, they were greased and required 40 people.

Believe it or not?

It took several days to carry out the preparatory work. Consequently, if there were actually Odysseus’s fighters in this structure, then it would have been very difficult for them.

After the horse was brought to Troy, its fate began to be decided in the city. Most residents believed that such an offering should be burned. There was also a soothsayer in the crowd Cassandra, who pointed her hand at the wooden horse, declaring that wars are hidden in it. Laocoon- a Trojan priest threw a spear at the horse, calling not to trust the enemies. “Fear the Danaans, even those who bring gifts,” he shouted. Soon, legend said that he and his two sons were strangled by sea serpents.

Some data says this happened June 6, 1209 BC. In the evening, numerous guards were posted in front of the “horse” of the Greeks, but alcohol intoxicated them. Late at night, all thirty fighters led by Odysseus got out of the “horse” and opened the gates of the city. So great Troy has fallen.

The story of the Trojan Horse, with the help of which thirty soldiers of Odysseus got inside Troy, speaks not only of the treachery of the attackers, but also of the naivety of the defenders. Meanwhile, historians still argue about whether there was a Horse.

Eyewitness testimony

The ancient Roman writer Virgil, who lived during the reign of Emperor Augustus, wrote the epic poem "Aeneid", which talks about the wanderings of Aeneas from Troy to Italy. A number of historians believe that “everything that the poet wrote” he found in reliable sources. Ultimately, his poetic testimony about the tragedy of Troy entered world history, and the phrase “Trojan Horse” became a household name. Not least of all, this happened because the military cunning of three dozen fighters crushed the fortress, which the entire army of King Menelaus could not take.

Before lifting the siege, the attackers informed the Trojans that the wooden “horse” they had built was a symbol of peace and an offering to Athena as a sign of atonement for sins. And while he stands, they will not attack. Sinon told the Trojans about this, cousin Odysseus, who allegedly went over to the side of the defenders.

Wooden giant

Judging by the descriptions, the Trojan Horse was 7.6 meters high and about three meters wide. The model built today weighed about two tons and could accommodate a maximum of twenty men of average constitution, characteristic of those times. It took forty people to roll this structure over greased logs.

Most likely, a wooden road was built, since many experts doubt that the Trojan Horse had wheels. Historian David Rohl, citing evidence for the canonical version, refers to the fact that an opening was made in the wall through which a Trojan Horse of the specified dimensions could be dragged. On the horse there was an inscription: “an offering to Athena” so that she would guard the Greek ships on the way home.

To believe or not to believe?

Meanwhile, this Horse was not brought to Troy immediately after the Greek fleet disappeared into the distance. In order to carry out the preparatory work, it took at least several days. If Odysseus’s fighters had actually been hiding in this wooden structure, it would have been very difficult for them.

While the Greeks were languishing in the “belly” of the horse, its fate was being decided in the city. Many residents believed that the offering should be burned. Among them was the soothsayer Cassandra, who, pointing her hand at the horse, declared that wars were hidden there. The Trojan priest Laocoon threw a spear at the offering of the Greeks, urging them not to trust their enemies. “Fear the Danaans, even those who bring gifts,” he shouted. Soon, as the legend goes, he and his two sons were strangled by sea serpents.

Thus, serious passions boiled over this “Danaan gift”, but nevertheless he was dragged into the city. This happened, according to some sources, on June 6, 1209 BC. On that fateful evening, numerous guards were posted in front of the “horse,” but the feast that began intoxicated her too. Late at night, thirty soldiers led by Odysseus got out of the “gift” and opened the gates of the city. That night Troy fell. Aeneas, one of the few who escaped, told the world about the treachery of the Greeks and the naivety of Troy.

Was there a horse?

The Roman traveler and scientist Pausanias, who lived in the 2nd century AD, wrote in his book “Description of Greece” that the Horse existed in reality, only it was not a gift, but a ram, which the Trojans recaptured from the Greeks during the assault and took them inside the city to he no longer destroyed the walls. Some Greeks hid in it, but were not noticed in the confusion.

There is another version. At that time, it was said about slave rowers in the hold of a ship that it was as hard for them as in the belly of a horse. Perhaps it was one of the damaged ships abandoned by the Greeks - a bireme, in which Odysseus's fighters hid. One of the Trojans brought the ship to the harbor to put it in order.
However, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, a participant in excavations of places where Troy could be located, doubts that there was a Greek siege at all. In any case, he was unable to find a single Greek arrowhead or spearhead.

Other military tricks

Other tricks similar to the Trojan Horse were used to deceive the enemy. Homer's poem "The Odyssey" tells how Greek wanderers fled from the Cyclops, who hid under sheep. In other words, the enemy can be deceived by passing off his soldiers as his fighters. Dressing up in enemy uniforms in order to infiltrate the enemy's camp or, on the contrary, to escape from him, is one of the most common military tricks.

There are many such cases in history. For example, part of the Russian troops left Narva, besieged in 1704, dressed in the uniform of the Swedes who died during the assault. In 1812, Denis Davydov’s troops quite often dressed up in the uniform of ragtag Napoleonic regiments, and then, approaching the enemy, suddenly attacked him.

The Abwehr structure had a Brandenburg regiment, whose soldiers were saboteurs dressed in the uniform of Red Army soldiers. We had such units too. For example, the memoirs of German Colonel General Erhard Routh tell about a group of Soviet soldiers who, dressed in Wehrmacht uniforms, inflicted serious losses on the Germans defending Belgorod in 1943.

The reason for the Trojan War was a dispute between three goddesses: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, to whom the daughter of Night Eris threw an apple with the inscription “To the Most Beautiful”. Of the three, Paris chose Aphrodite, who became his patroness. But then Paris sailed by ship to Greece, stayed in Sparta in the house of Menelaus and, taking advantage of his absence, stole his beautiful wife Helen and took him with him to Troy. With the support of his brother Agamemnon, Menelaus gathered a large army, which set off to conquer Troy and liberate Helen.

For ten years the Greeks waged military operations against the Trojans and could not conquer the besieged city. Then the cunning Odysseus proposed to take him by deception: to build a huge wooden horse, which could accommodate the strongest and bravest warriors. Leave him in front of the gates of Troy, and the entire army sail away on ships away from the shore. Let the Trojans think that the siege has been lifted and the Greeks have left forever, and this wooden horse is like a gift from them. When the Trojans bring the horse into the city, the soldiers will get out of it at night, kill the guards, open the city gates, and the Greek troops who arrive at night will enter the city.

Not everyone supported Odysseus's plan. Many leaders doubted that the Trojans were so naive that they would believe in the selfless “gift” of the Greeks. But since there were no other plans, we decided to try it. The famous artist Epeus drew a sketch of a war horse, and the warriors began to build it in large sizes. The horse turned out to be gigantic. The best warriors entered. The entrance hole was quietly sealed. After this, the Greeks turned their camp and went to the ships. The Trojans watching them from the walls were perplexed. Did they really lift the siege, why did they leave the horse then?

The Trojans opened the gates and saw that the Greeks had indeed abandoned their camp. Their ships disappeared from the horizon. They looked at the giant horse with interest, trying to understand for what purpose the Greeks made it. They started arguing. Some offered to bring him into the city, others, among them the priest Laocoon, were convinced that this was a military trick of the Greeks and the horse should be burned. Laocoon even threw a spear at the horse, and there was a sound reminiscent of the clanking of weapons.

But the Trojans, delighted at the lifting of the siege, no longer listened to him. Their attention was attracted by two snakes floating on the sea. They crawled ashore next to Laocoon and his two sons, who were about to make a sacrifice, and suddenly wrapped themselves around them. All the Trojans fled in fear. Laocoon could not cope with the snakes; they bit him and strangled him. Laocoön and his children became weak and fell lifeless. And the snakes, having completed their work, crawled into the sea.

The Trojans believed that Laocoon had angered the goddess Athena with his suspicion, and she sent snakes to kill him. They boldly rode their horse into the city and closed the gates.

Late at night, the Greeks got out of the horse's interior, opened the gates and let in the Greek army, which was already standing under the walls of the city. And houses immediately burst into flames, entire streets were on fire. The Greeks spared no one. The awakened Trojans tried to resist. But it was already too late. The Greeks captured the palace and killed King Priam. Menelaus managed to find his wife Helen. He took her hand and led her to the ship. The Greeks left the city in the fire of conflagrations. Troy practically ceased to exist.

Today, many people know the famous legend of Troy and the Trojan horse, and the Trojan horse itself has long become a household name and our ironic contemporaries even named a destructive computer virus after it...
Despite the fact that the authenticity of the existence of Troy was confirmed by the searches and excavations of the famous German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), it is difficult to believe in the myth of the Trojan Horse (I myself, to be honest, still cannot understand how the Trojans got caught for such a trick - approx. author of the site).
But, nevertheless, this is already history, and the first sources that told about this legendary event were Homer’s poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”. Later, the Trojan War was the theme of Virgil's Aeneid and other works in which history was also intertwined with fiction.
The only source for us can only be Homer’s poem “The Iliad,” but the author, as the Greek historian Thucydides noted, exaggerated the significance of the war and embellished it, and therefore the poet’s information must be treated very carefully.

Today it is reliably known that a large military battle between the union of the Achaean states and the city of Troy (Ilion), located on the shores of the Aegean Sea, took place between 1190 and 1180 BC (according to other sources, around 1240 BC).
The cause of this war was the abduction by Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, of the beautiful Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, Menelaus. In response to Menelaus' call, famous Greek heroes came to his aid. According to the Iliad, an army of Greeks led by the Mycenaean king Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaus, set out to free Helen, who had been kidnapped by Paris.
The gods also took part in this war: Athena and Hera - on the side of the Greeks, Aphrodite, Artemis and Apollo, Ares - on the side of the Trojans.
An attempt to return Helena through negotiations failed, and then the Greeks began a grueling siege of the city. Although there were ten times fewer Trojans, Troy remained impregnable...
The city of Troy, on the site of which today is the Turkish town of Hisarlik, was located a few kilometers from the shore of the Hellespont (Dardanelles). Passed through Troy trade routes which were used Greek tribes. Perhaps the Trojans interfered with Greek trade, which caused the Greek tribes to unite and start a war with Troy, which was supported by numerous allies, which caused the war to drag on for many years.

Troy was surrounded by a high stone wall with battlements. The Achaeans did not dare to storm the city and did not block it, so the fighting took place on a flat field between the city and the besiegers’ camp, which was located on the banks of the Hellespont.
The Trojans sometimes broke into the enemy camp, trying to set fire to the Greek ships that were pulled ashore.
Listing in detail the ships of the Achaeans, Homer counted 1186 ships on which a hundred thousand army was transported. Undoubtedly, the number of ships and warriors is exaggerated.
In addition, we must take into account that these ships were just large boats, since they were quite easily pulled ashore and launched into the water quite quickly. Such a ship could not carry 100 people...
Most likely, the Achaeans had several thousand warriors. They were led, as mentioned earlier, by Agamemnon, the king of the “many-gold Mycenae,” and at the head of the warriors of each tribe was their own leader.
Homer calls the Achaeans “spearmen,” so there is no doubt that the main weapon of the Greek warriors was a spear with a copper tip. The warrior had a copper sword and good defensive weapons: leggings, armor on the chest, a helmet with a horse's mane and a large shield bound in copper.
Tribal leaders fought on war chariots or dismounted. The warriors of the lower hierarchy were worse armed: they had spears, slings, “double-edged axes,” axes, bows and arrows, shields and were a support for their leaders, who themselves entered into single combat with the best warriors of Troy.
Thanks to Homer's descriptions, one can imagine the environment in which this combat took place.
The opponents were located not far from each other: war chariots lined up in a row; the warriors took off their armor and placed them next to the chariots, then sat down on the ground and watched the single combat of their leaders.
The combatants first threw spears, then fought with copper swords, which soon became unusable.
The leader who lost his sword took refuge in the ranks of his tribe, or he was given new weapons to continue the fight. The winner removed the armor from the dead man and took away his weapons...
In preparation for battle, the chariots and infantry were placed in a certain order: the war chariots were lined up in front of the infantry in a line maintaining alignment, “so that no one, relying on their art and strength, would fight against the Trojans ahead of the rest alone, so that they would not rule back.”

Covering themselves with “convex shields,” foot soldiers lined up behind the war chariots, armed with spears with copper tips. The infantry was built in several ranks, which Homer calls “thick phalanxes.” The leaders lined up the infantry, driving the cowardly warriors into the middle, “so that even those who don’t want to have to fight against their will.”
The war chariots were the first to enter the battle, then “continuously, one after another, the phalanx of the Achaeans moved into battle against the Trojans,” “they walked silently, fearing their leaders.”
The infantry delivered the first blows with spears, and then cut with swords. With war chariots the infantry fought with spears. Archers also took part in the battle, but the arrow was not considered a reliable weapon even in the hands of an excellent archer.
Clearly, in such conditions, the outcome of the struggle was decided by physical strength and the skill of using weapons, which often failed: copper spear tips bent and swords broke. Maneuver on the battlefield was not yet used at that time, but the beginnings of organizing the interaction of war chariots and foot soldiers had already appeared.
Such a battle lasted until nightfall, and if an agreement was reached at night, the corpses were burned. If there was no agreement, the opponents posted guards, organizing the protection of the army that was in the field and defensive structures (the fortress wall and the fortifications of the camp - a moat, sharpened stakes and a wall with towers).
The guard, which usually consisted of several detachments, was placed behind the ditch. In order to capture prisoners and clarify the enemy's intentions, reconnaissance was sent to the enemy camp at night, and meetings of tribal leaders were also held, at which the issue of further actions. In the morning the battle resumed...
This is roughly how the endless battles between the Achaeans and Trojans proceeded. According to Homer, only in the tenth year of the war (!) the main events began to unfold...
Once, the Trojans, having achieved success in a night raid, drove the enemy back to his fortified camp, surrounded by a ditch. Having crossed the ditch, the Trojans began to storm the wall with towers, but were soon repulsed.
Later, they still managed to break the gates with stones and break into the fortified camp of the Achaeans, where a bloody battle ensued for the ships. Homer explains this success of the Trojans by the fact that the best warrior of the besiegers, the invincible Achilles, who quarreled with Agamemnon, did not participate in the battle...
Seeing that the Achaeans, pressed by the Trojans, were retreating, Achilles’ friend Patroclus persuaded Achilles to allow him to enter the battle and give him his armor. Inspired by Patroclus, the Achaeans rallied, as a result of which the Trojans met fresh enemy forces at the ships. It was a dense formation of closed shields “pike near pike, shield against shield, going under the neighboring one.” The Achaean warriors lined up in several ranks and managed to repel the attack of the Trojans, and with a counterattack - “strikes of sharp swords and double-edged pikes” - drove them back...
The Trojan attack was repulsed, but Patroclus himself died at the hands of Hector, son of Priam, king of Troy, and Achilles’ armor went to the enemy. Later, Hephaestus forged new armor and weapons for Achilles, after which Achilles, angry at the death of his friend, again entered the battle.
Subsequently, he killed Hector in a duel, tied his body to a chariot and rushed to his camp. The Trojan king Priam came to Achilles with rich gifts, begged him to return his son's body and buried him with dignity.
This concludes Homer's Iliad.
According to later myths, later the Amazons, led by Penfisileia, and the king of the Ethiopians Memnon came to the aid of the Trojans. However, they soon died at the hands of Achilles.
And soon Achilles himself died from the arrows of Paris, directed by Apollo, one of which hit the only vulnerable spot - Achilles' heel, the other - in the chest.
The armor and weapons of the deceased Achilles went to Odysseus, who was recognized as the bravest of the Achaeans...
After the death of Achilles, the Greeks were predicted that without the bow and arrows of Hercules, who were with Philoctetes, and Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, they would not be able to take Troy. An embassy was immediately sent for these heroes, and they hurried to the aid of their compatriots.
As a result, Philoctetes mortally wounded the Trojan prince Paris with an arrow from Hercules, and Odysseus and Diomedes killed the Thracian king Res, who was rushing to help the Trojans, and took away his magic horses, which, according to prediction, if they entered the city, would make it impregnable.
Later, Odysseus and Diomedes made their way to Troy and stole palladium from the temple of Athena, which protected the city from enemies, however, despite this, the powerful defensive walls of Troy remained impregnable...
And then the cunning Odysseus came up with an extraordinary military trick...
Long time, secretly from others, he talked with a certain Epeus, the best carpenter in the Achaean camp. By evening, all the Achaean leaders gathered in Agamemnon’s tent for a military council, where Odysseus outlined his daring plan, according to which it was necessary to build a huge wooden horse, inside which the most skillful and courageous warriors would be accommodated.
The rest of the Achaean army must board the ships, move away from the Trojan shore and take refuge behind the island of Tendos. As soon as the Trojans see that the Achaeans have left the coast, they will think that the siege of Troy has been lifted and will probably drag the wooden horse to Troy.
At night, the Achaean ships will return, and the warriors, hiding in the wooden horse, will come out of it and open the fortress gates.
And then - the final assault on the hated city!
For three days the axes clattered in the jealously fenced off part of the ship's parking lot, for three days the mysterious work was in full swing. On the side of the horse was written “This gift is brought to Athena the Warrior by the departing Danaans” 1 . To build the horse, the Greeks cut down the dogwood trees that grew in the sacred grove of Apollo ( cranei), they appeased Apollo with sacrifices and gave him the name Carnea.
The Trojans, rejoicing at what was happening, left the besieged city and walked with curiosity along the deserted shore, and then with surprise surrounded a huge wooden horse that towered over the bushes of coastal willows.
Some of them advised throwing the horse into the sea, others - burning it, but many insisted on dragging it into the city and placing it on the main square of Troy as a memory of the bloody battle of nations.
In the midst of the dispute, the priest of Apollo Laocoon approached the wooden horse with his two sons. “Fear the Danaans who bring gifts!” - he cried and, snatching a sharp spear from the hands of the Trojan warrior, threw it at the wooden belly of the horse. The pierced spear trembled, and a barely audible copper ringing was heard from the horse’s belly.

However, no one listened to Laocoon, and all the attention of the crowd was attracted by the appearance of the young men leading the captive Achaean. He was brought to King Priam, who stood surrounded by court nobility next to a wooden horse.
The prisoner introduced himself as Sinon and explained that he himself had escaped from the Achaeans, who were supposed to sacrifice him to the gods - this was a condition for a safe return home.
Sinon convinced the Trojans that the wooden horse was a dedication gift to the goddess Athena, who could bring down her wrath on Troy if the Trojans destroyed the horse. However, if you place this horse in the city in front of the temple of Athena, then Troy will become indestructible. At the same time, Sinon emphasized that this is why the Achaeans built the horse so huge that the Trojans could not drag it through the fortress gates...
Before Sinon had time to utter these words, a scream full of horror was heard from the direction of the sea: two huge snake and entwined the priest Laocoon and his two sons with deadly rings of their smooth and sticky bodies. In an instant, the unfortunate ones gave up the ghost...
Now no one had any doubts about the veracity of Sinon’s words and, having built a low platform on wheels, the Trojans mounted a wooden horse on it and drove it to the city. In order for the wooden horse to pass through the Skaean Gate, the Trojans even had to dismantle part of the fortress wall, but they still placed the horse in the place indicated by Sinon...
At night, while the Trojans, intoxicated with success, celebrated their victory, the Achaean spies quietly dismounted and opened the gates. By this time, the Greek army, following a signal from Sinon, had quietly returned and captured the city, as a result of which Troy was plundered and destroyed...
How many Greek soldiers were housed in the Trojan horse?
According to the “Little Iliad”, 50 of the best warriors sat in it, according to Stesichorus - 100 warriors, according to others - 20, according to Tsets - 23, or only 9 warriors: Menelaus, Odysseus, Diomedes, Thersander, Sfenel, Acamant, Foant, Machaon and Neoptolemus 5 ...
But why was it the horse that caused the death of Troy?
This question was asked in ancient times, and many authors tried to find a reasonable explanation for the legend. A wide variety of assumptions were made: for example, that the Achaeans had a battle tower on wheels, made in the shape of a horse and upholstered in horse skins; or that the Greeks managed to enter the city through an underground passage on the door of which a horse was painted; or that the horse was a sign by which the Achaeans distinguished each other from their opponents in the dark...
Now it is generally accepted that the Trojan horse is an allegory of some kind of military trick that the Achaeans used when taking Troy.
Almost all the heroes, both Achaeans and Trojans, die under the walls of Troy, and of those who survive the war, many will die on the way home. Some, like King Agamemnon, will find death at home at the hands of loved ones, others will be expelled and spend their lives in wanderings.
Essentially, this is the end of the heroic age, and under the walls of Troy there are neither victors nor vanquished: heroes are becoming a thing of the past, and the time of ordinary people is coming...

Curiously, the horse is also symbolically associated with birth and death. A horse made of spruce wood, carrying something in its belly, symbolizes the birth of a new one, and the Trojan horse is made of spruce boards, and armed warriors sit in its hollow belly. It turns out that the Trojan horse brings death to the defenders of the fortress, but at the same time it also means the birth of something new.
Around the same time, another historically important event took place in the Mediterranean: one of the great migrations of peoples began. Tribes of the Dorians, a barbarian people who completely destroyed the ancient Mycenaean civilization, moved from the north to the Balkan Peninsula.
Only after a few centuries will Greece be reborn and it will be possible to talk about Greek history, and the destruction will be so great that the entire pre-Dorian history will become a myth and many states will cease to exist...
The results of recent archaeological expeditions do not yet allow us to convincingly reconstruct the scenario Trojan War, but their results do not deny that behind the Trojan epic lies the story of Greek expansion against a large state that was located on the western coast of Asia Minor and prevented the Greeks from gaining power over this region.
Let's hope that true story The Trojan War will still be written someday...

Information sources:
1. Wikipedia website
2. Big encyclopedic Dictionary
3. “Great mysteries of the past” (Verlag Das Beste GmbH)
4. Kurushin M. “100 great military secrets”
5. Gigin “Myths”

The story of the Trojan Horse, with the help of which thirty soldiers of Odysseus got inside Troy, speaks not only of the treachery of the attackers, but also of the naivety of the defenders. Meanwhile, historians still argue about whether there was a Horse.

Eyewitness testimony

The ancient Roman writer Virgil, who lived during the reign of Emperor Augustus, wrote the epic poem "Aeneid", which talks about the wanderings of Aeneas from Troy to Italy. A number of historians believe that “everything that the poet wrote” he found in reliable sources. Ultimately, his poetic testimony about the tragedy of Troy entered world history, and the phrase “Trojan Horse” became a household name. Not least of all, this happened because the military cunning of three dozen fighters crushed the fortress, which the entire army of King Menelaus could not take.

Before lifting the siege, the attackers informed the Trojans that the wooden “horse” they had built was a symbol of peace and an offering to Athena as a sign of atonement for sins. And while he stands, they will not attack. Sinon, Odysseus's cousin, told the Trojans about this and allegedly went over to the side of the defenders.

Wooden giant

Judging by the descriptions, the Trojan Horse was 7.6 meters high and about three meters wide. The model built today weighed about two tons and could accommodate a maximum of twenty men of average constitution, characteristic of those times. It took forty people to roll this structure over greased logs.

Most likely, a wooden road was built, since many experts doubt that the Trojan Horse had wheels. Historian David Rohl, citing evidence for the canonical version, refers to the fact that an opening was made in the wall through which a Trojan Horse of the specified dimensions could be dragged. On the horse there was an inscription: “an offering to Athena” so that she would guard the Greek ships on the way home.

To believe or not to believe?

Meanwhile, this Horse was not brought to Troy immediately after the Greek fleet disappeared into the distance. In order to carry out the preparatory work, it took at least several days. If Odysseus’s fighters had actually been hiding in this wooden structure, it would have been very difficult for them.

While the Greeks were languishing in the “belly” of the horse, its fate was being decided in the city. Many residents believed that the offering should be burned. Among them was the soothsayer Cassandra, who, pointing her hand at the horse, declared that wars were hidden there. The Trojan priest Laocoon threw a spear at the offering of the Greeks, urging them not to trust their enemies. “Fear the Danaans, even those who bring gifts,” he shouted. Soon, as the legend goes, he and his two sons were strangled by sea serpents.

Thus, serious passions boiled over this “Danaan gift”, but nevertheless he was dragged into the city. This happened, according to some sources, on June 6, 1209 BC. On that fateful evening, numerous guards were posted in front of the “horse,” but the feast that began intoxicated her too. Late at night, thirty soldiers led by Odysseus got out of the “gift” and opened the gates of the city. That night Troy fell. Aeneas, one of the few who escaped, told the world about the treachery of the Greeks and the naivety of Troy.

Was there a horse?

The Roman traveler and scientist Pausanias, who lived in the 2nd century AD, wrote in his book “Description of Greece” that the Horse existed in reality, only it was not a gift, but a ram, which the Trojans recaptured from the Greeks during the assault and took them inside the city to he no longer destroyed the walls. Some Greeks hid in it, but were not noticed in the confusion.

There is another version. At that time, it was said about slave rowers in the hold of a ship that it was as hard for them as in the belly of a horse. Perhaps it was one of the damaged ships abandoned by the Greeks - a bireme, in which Odysseus’s fighters hid. One of the Trojans brought the ship to the harbor to put it in order.
However, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, a participant in excavations of places where Troy could be located, doubts that there was a Greek siege at all. In any case, he was unable to find a single Greek arrowhead or spearhead.

Other military tricks

Other tricks similar to the Trojan Horse were used to deceive the enemy. Homer's poem "The Odyssey" tells how Greek wanderers fled from the Cyclops, who hid under sheep. In other words, the enemy can be deceived by passing off his soldiers as his fighters. Dressing up in enemy uniforms in order to infiltrate the enemy's camp or, on the contrary, to escape from him, is one of the most common military tricks.

There are many such cases in history. For example, part of the Russian troops left Narva, besieged in 1704, dressed in the uniform of the Swedes who died during the assault. In 1812, Denis Davydov’s troops quite often dressed up in the uniform of ragtag Napoleonic regiments, and then, approaching the enemy, suddenly attacked him.

The Abwehr structure had a Brandenburg regiment, whose soldiers were saboteurs dressed in the uniform of Red Army soldiers. We had such units too. For example, the memoirs of German Colonel General Erhard Routh tell about a group of Soviet soldiers who, dressed in Wehrmacht uniforms, inflicted serious losses on the Germans defending Belgorod in 1943.