Greek myth · 声匠改编 · 4:02
The Trojan Horse
After ten years of war, the Greeks sail away and leave a giant wooden horse outside Troy. Only Laocoön and Cassandra suspect what's hiding inside.
Narrator
Odysseus
King Priam
Laocoön
Anticlus, a Greek soldier
Sinon
CassandraOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
The Trojan Horse is the trick that ended the Trojan War. It is not in Homer's Iliad, but his Odyssey mentions it in Book 8, where the bard Demodocus sings of the horse Epeius built with Athena's help; the fullest telling is in Book 2 of Virgil's Aeneid (19 BC), where Aeneas recalls Laocoön's warning, Sinon's lies and Cassandra's unheeded cries. This retelling follows Virgil, borrows the soldier Anticlus from Odyssey Book 4, where Odysseus clamps a hand over his mouth inside the horse, and moves that moment to the spear strike. It tells Laocoön's fate and the fall of Troy briefly, without violence, and ends with Aeneas escaping.
What it teaches
Think twice before trusting a gift that seems too good to be true, especially from someone with a reason to trick you. It is also a story about listening: Laocoön and Cassandra told the truth, and no one wanted to hear it.
Suits
Ages 7–12
Tips for telling it
- Knock on a hollow box when Laocoön's spear strikes, so children hear the boom.
- Let your child whisper Anticlus's lines from under a blanket, as if hiding inside the horse.
- Afterwards, ask: if you were a Trojan, what would have made you suspicious?
Questions people ask
- What does 'beware of Greeks bearing gifts' mean?
- It means be wary of a gift or favour from someone who may be trying to trick you. It comes from Laocoön's warning in Virgil's Aeneid, Book 2: timeo Danaos et dona ferentes, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts.
- Was the Trojan Horse real?
- Troy itself was real: its ruins lie at Hisarlik in north-west Turkey, and the city was destroyed more than once in the Bronze Age. But there is no evidence for the wooden horse, and most historians treat it as legend.
- Whose idea was the Trojan Horse?
- It is usually credited to Odysseus; the ancient handbook of Apollodorus says he thought of it and had the craftsman Epeius build it. Homer's Odyssey says Epeius built the horse with Athena's help and Odysseus led it into Troy as a trap.
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