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 it legendary event, there 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). Trade routes used by Greek tribes passed through Troy. 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 high stone wall with teeth. The Achaeans did not dare to storm the city and did not block it, so 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 physical strength and the art of wielding 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 gate with stones and break into the fortified Achaean camp, where a bloody battle for the ships ensued. 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...
For a 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 who had taken refuge in 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, while others will be expelled and spend their lives wandering.
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 several 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 have not yet made it possible to convincingly reconstruct the scenario of the 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 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?

In order to carry out preparatory work, it took several days. 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.

After ten years of exhausting war and siege, one fine morning the Trojans, not believing their eyes, saw that the Greek camp was empty, and on the shore stood a huge wooden horse with a dedicatory inscription: “In gratitude for the future safe return home, the Achaeans dedicate this gift to Athena.” . Ancient people treated sacred gifts with great reverence, and, by the decision of King Priam, the horse was brought into the city and installed in the citadel dedicated to Athena. When night came, the armed Achaeans sitting on horseback got out and attacked the sleeping inhabitants of the city. (See Appendix 3) So, thanks to the horse, Troy was captured, and so the Trojan War ended.

Nowadays, this legend is known to everyone, and the Trojan horse itself has long become a common noun - our ironic contemporaries even named a destructive computer virus after it. The fact that Troy fell because of a horse is taken as an axiom. But if you ask someone why the horse was the cause of the death of Troy, the person will most likely find it difficult to answer.

It turns out that this question was asked already in ancient times. Many ancient 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... It is now generally accepted that the Trojan horse is an allegory of some kind of military trick used by the Achaeans when taking the city.

There are many versions, but none of them gives a satisfactory answer. Who knows - maybe the Trojan horse will reveal its secret to us a little.

So, let's try to enter into the position of the Achaeans. Simulating the lifting of the siege, they were supposed to leave something under the walls of Troy that the Trojans would simply be obliged to take into the city. Most likely, this role should have been played by the dedicatory gift to the gods, because neglecting the sacred gift from the point of view of the ancient man meant insulting the deity. And an angry deity is not to be trifled with. And so, thanks to the inscription on the side, the wooden statue receives the status of a gift to the goddess Athena, who patronized both the Achaeans and the Trojans. What to do with such a dubious “gift”? I had to bring it (albeit with some caution) into the city and install it in a sacred place.

However, the role of a dedicatory gift could be played by almost any sacred image. Why was the horse chosen? Troy has long been famous for its horses; because of them, traders came here from all over the world, and because of them, raids were often made on the city. In the Iliad, the Trojans are called "hippodamoi", "horse tamers", and legends say that the Trojan king Dardanus had a herd of magnificent horses, descended from the northernmost wind Boreas. In general, the horse was one of the creatures closest to humans in ancient horse breeding, agricultural and military culture. From this point of view, it was quite natural for the Achaean warriors to leave a horse under the walls of Troy as a dedicatory gift.

By the way, the images for sacred statues and sacrificial gifts were not chosen by chance. Each deity had animals dedicated to him, and he could take on their appearance: for example, Zeus in myths turns into a bull, Apollo into a dolphin, and Dionysus into a panther. In Mediterranean cultures, the horse in one of its aspects was associated with the fertility of the fields, with a bountiful harvest, with mother earth (in ancient mythology the goddess Demeter sometimes turned into a mare). But at the same time, the beautiful freedom-loving animal was often associated with violent, spontaneous and uncontrollable force, with earthquakes and destruction, and as such was the sacred animal of the god Poseidon.

So, maybe the key to unlocking the Trojan horse is in the “Earth Shaker” Poseidon? Among the Olympians, this god was distinguished by his unbridled character and penchant for destruction. And he had old scores to settle with Troy. Perhaps the destruction of Troy by horse is just an allegory strong earthquake who destroyed the city?

In some, especially archaic, traditions, the horse symbolizes the transition to another space, to another qualitative state, to a place inaccessible to ordinary means. On a horse with eight legs, the shaman makes his mystical journey; among the Etruscans, the horse transports the souls of the dead to the underworld; the wonderful horse Burak carries Muhammad to heaven.

According to Homer, the Trojan War lasted almost ten years; for ten years the Achaeans could not take the walls of the city, built, according to myth, by the god Poseidon himself. In fact, from the point of view of myth, Troy was an “inaccessible” place, a kind of “enchanted city” that could not be defeated by ordinary means. In order to get into the city, the heroes did not even need military cunning, but a special, magical “carrier”. And such a carrier becomes a wooden horse, with the help of which they accomplish what they have been trying to do for ten years without success.

But if you follow this version, then Troy, described by Homer, takes on a completely special meaning. It's about no longer about a small fortress on the banks of the Pontus and not even about the capital of the ancient state of Asia Minor. Homeric Troy receives the status of a certain transcendental place for which a battle is being waged. And the battles taking place under the walls and within the walls of this Troy are by no means a vendetta between two tribes, but a reflection of events of global significance. The Trojan Horse opens the last act of this world drama.

By the way, this is confirmed by the scale of the war. Archaeologically, Troy is just a small fortress. To take it, according to Homer, ships are sent from 160 city-states of Greece - from 10 to 100 ships, that is, a fleet of at least 1600 ships. And if you multiply by 50 warriors each - this is an army of more than 80 thousand people! (For comparison: Alexander the Great needed about 50 thousand people to conquer all of Asia.) Even if this is the author’s hyperbole, it indicates that Homer attached exceptional importance to this war.

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 wandering. In essence, this is the end of the heroic age. Under the walls of Troy there are no victors and no vanquished, heroes are becoming a thing of the past, and the time of ordinary people is coming.

Of the heroes who fought under the walls of Troy, only two survived: Odysseus and Aeneas. And this is no coincidence. They both have special mission. Aeneas will set out to create his “new Troy” and lay the foundation for Rome, the civilization of the world to come. And Odysseus... the “much-wise and long-suffering” hero will make a great journey home to find his promised land. In order to lose and regain everything that is dear to him on his journey, including given name. To reach the borders of the inhabited world and visit countries that no one has seen and from which no one has returned. To descend into the world of the dead and again “resurrect” and wander for a long time on the waves of the Ocean, the great symbol of the Unconscious and the Unknown.

Odysseus will make a great journey, in which the “old” man will symbolically die and a “hero of the new time” will be born. He will endure great suffering and the wrath of the gods. It will be new hero- energetic, insightful and wise, inquisitive and dexterous. With his ineradicable desire to understand the world, his ability to solve problems not with physical strength and valor, but with a sharp mind, he is not like the heroes of the “old” world. He will come into conflict with the gods, and the gods will be forced to retreat before man.

It is probably no coincidence that Odysseus will become the ideal of the coming era - classical Greece. Together with Troy, the old world will irrevocably go away, and with it something mysterious and hidden will go away. But something new will be born. This will be a world whose hero will be man: a master and a traveler, a philosopher and a citizen, a man no longer dependent on the forces of Fate and the game of the gods, but creating his own destiny and his own history.

By the way, it is interesting that 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.

About the great and bloody war and how thirty fighters decided the outcome of the battle that happened in 1193 BC. we learned thanks to Homer's poem "Iliad". This is a story about the naivety of defenders and the cunning of attackers.

Myth of Troy

The Trojan prince Paris fell in love with the beautiful Helen, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. He managed to persuade the beauty to escape and, taking advantage of the absence of Menelaus, the loving couple sailed to Troy. The insulted Menelaus, together with his brother Agamemnon, having gathered a huge army, hurried after the fugitives.

lasted ten years bloody war between the Spartans and Trojans. Great warriors met in battle, their names went down in history forever - Achilles, Hector, Patroclus, etc.

The strong walls of the city were impregnable to the Greeks. Then Odysseus, king of Ithaca, came up with one trick - to build a huge statue of a horse, hollow inside, into which the soldiers would climb. But how to force the Trojans to drag the statue through the impregnable walls of the city? And the cunning Greek foresaw this.

Fall of Troy

In the morning, the Trojans discovered a huge statue of a horse near the city walls with an inscription that said that this horse was built in honor of the goddess Athena and as long as it stood, the Greeks would not attack the Trojans. The Greeks themselves removed their camp and sent the ships home. I was able to convince the Trojans of this cousin Odyssey Sinon, who allegedly went over to their side. However, the controversy surrounding the horse did not subside; Cassandra stated that there were warriors in the statue of the horse, but they did not believe her. The priest Laoocon threw a spear at the statue, exclaiming “Fear the Danaans who bring gifts.” However, later, according to legend, he and his two sons were strangled by sea serpents, which became a sign for the Trojans to drag the statue into the city.

Residents of the city threw a feast in honor of the end of the war, and numerous guards also succumbed to the celebration. Therefore, the Greeks who got out of the statue were freely able to open the city gates and let in the army of their compatriots. Helen was returned to her husband, and the city was burned to the ground.

Was there a horse?

Historians still argue about the existence of the Trojan Horse and the location of Troy.

In his book “Description of Greece,” the Roman scientist and traveler Pausanias, who lived around the 2nd century AD, writes that the Horse existed, but it was not a statue, but a battering ram, captured from the Greeks by the Trojans. The Trojans took him to the city so that the Greeks would not destroy the city walls, but the townspeople, in the confusion, did not notice the hidden soldiers.

There is also another version. At that distant time, it was said about the rowers in the hold of a ship that it was hard for them, like in the belly of a horse. It is possible that Homer called the ship in which Odysseus’s soldiers were hiding “horse”.

According to Homer's descriptions, the Trojan Horse was about 3 meters wide and 7.6 meters high. Built as described today, the model weighed approximately two tons and could accommodate no more than twenty men of average build.

In order to drag this structure, forty people would have been needed and the preparatory work would have taken several days, so the warriors hiding in the horse would have had a hard time at all.

In 2011, the National Geographic TV channel made a film about the guesses of scientists, new research in the field of studying the Trojan War, in which historians and archaeologists will try to figure out where Troy was? Did the Trojan Horse exist? And finally, did the Beautiful Helen exist?

National Geographic Channel's Troy Movie

Troy in the cinema

There are many productions about the Trojan War. The most recent film adaptation is the film "Troy", shot in 2004 by American director Wolfang Petersen. The heroes of the Iliad will once again meet in mortal combat, and ancient events will sparkle with new colors. But the fact that this film adaptation is the last does not mean that the others are significantly worse. For example, in the film “Helen of Troy” the scene with the horse is also very impressive.

Scene from the film “Helen of Troy” (video)

Regardless of whether Homer's Iliad is fact or fiction, the poem is beautiful and instructive. It gave food to filmmakers around the world and food for thought to many military strategists. So, during the Second World War soviet soldiers have used similar tactics many times.

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The Trojan horse is a huge wooden horse in ancient Greek mythology, the construction of which is associated with one of the final episodes of the Trojan War.

The war between the Trojans and the Danaans began because the Trojan prince Paris stole the beautiful Helen from Menelaus. Her husband, the king of Sparta, and his brother gathered the army of Achaea and went against Paris. During the war with Troy, the Achaeans, after a long and unsuccessful siege, resorted to cunning: they built a huge wooden horse, left it near the walls of Troy, and they themselves pretended to sail away from the shore of the Troas (the invention of this trick is attributed to Odysseus, the most cunning of the Danaan leaders , and the horse was made by Epeus). The horse was an offering to the goddess Athena of Ilium. On the side of the horse was written “This gift is brought to Athena the Warrior by the departing Danaans.” To build the horse, the Hellenes cut down the dogwood trees (cranei) growing in Apollo’s sacred grove, appeased Apollo with sacrifices and gave him the name Carnea (for the horse was made of maple).

The priest Laocoont, seeing this horse and knowing the tricks of the Danaans, exclaimed: “Whatever it is, be afraid of the Danaans, even those who bring gifts!” (Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes!) and threw his spear at the horse. However, at that moment, 2 huge snakes crawled out of the sea and killed Laocoont and his two sons, since the god Poseidon himself wanted the destruction of Troy. The Trojans, not listening to the warnings of Laocoon and the prophetess Cassandra, dragged the horse into the city. Virgil’s hemistich “Fear the Danaans, even those who bring gifts,” often quoted in Latin (“Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes”), has become a proverb. This is where the phraseological unit “Trojan horse” arose, used to mean: a secret, insidious plan disguised as a gift.

Inside the horse sat 50 of the best warriors (according to the Little Iliad, 3000). According to Stesichorus, 100 warriors, according to others - 20, according to Tsetsu - 23, or only 9 warriors: Menelaus, Odysseus, Diomedes, Thersander, Sfenel, Acamant, Foant, Machaon and Neoptolemus. The names of all were listed by the poet Sakad of Argos. Athena gave the heroes ambrosia.

At night, the Greeks, hiding inside the horse, got out of it, killed the guards, opened the city gates, let in their comrades who had returned on ships, and thus took possession of Troy (“Odyssey” by Homer, 8, 493 et ​​seq.; “Aeneid” by Virgil, 2, 15 et seq. Sl.).

Interpretations

According to Polybius, “almost all barbarian peoples, at least most of them, kill and sacrifice a horse either at the very beginning of a war, or before a decisive battle, in order to reveal a sign of the near future in the fall of the animal.”

According to the euhemeristic interpretation, in order to drag him in, the Trojans dismantled part of the wall, and the Hellenes took the city. According to the assumptions of some historians (found already with Pausanias), the Trojan Horse was actually a battering machine, used to destroy walls. According to Dareth, a horse’s head was simply sculptured on the Skeian Gate.

There was the tragedy of Jophon “The Destruction of Ilion”, the tragedy of an unknown author “The Departure”, the tragedies of Livius Andronicus and Naevius “The Trojan Horse”, as well as the poem of Nero “The Wreck of Troy”.

Dating

Troy fell 17 days before the summer solstice, on the eighth day before the end of Fargelion. According to Dionysius the Argive, it was the 12th of Fargelion, in the 18th year of the reign of Agamemnon and the 1st year of the reign of Demophon in Athens. According to the author of the “Little Iliad”, on the full moon. According to Aegius and Derkiol, the 28th day of Panem, according to Hellanicus - 12 fargelion, according to other historiographers of Athens - 28 fargelion, on the full moon, Last year the reign of Menestheus, according to others - 28 scirophorion. Or in winter. According to the Parian Chronicle, Troy fell in 1209 BC. e.

With the help of a living horse, Charidemus took Troy again c. 359 BC uh..