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 Trojan Horse

In the 19th century, a man named Giovanni Battista Belzoni was attempting to pry open a limestone door of an ancient burial chamber called the Belzoni Tomb in Egypt. On this day, he had finally succeeded and crawled through the gap, only to find that there was nothing inside. According to historical records, the 30-year-old man fainted dead away when he discovered that his entire life's work had been for naught.

The incident has been widely cited as an example of "the agony of the empty tomb".

The Trojan Horse is a story from Greek mythology told in the "Iliad" that concerns the conquest of Troy by means of a giant wooden horse. The Greeks built the huge horse, hiding an elite force of soldiers within it, and left it at the gates of Troy as a gift to its ruler, King Priam. The king was initially suspicious and refused to accept it, but he finally relented and wheeled the magnificent gift into his city. That night, Greek soldiers crept out of the horse and opened the gates for their army, which had sailed back under cover of darkness. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city of Troy, ending the war.

The motif has become a classic element of Western civilization and has been used and re-interpreted in various forms. The "Trojan Horse" is first recorded in a fragment of Euripides' tragedy "Palamedes", c. 425 BC. Later, the historian Diodorus Siculus (first century BC) reported that the Romans used a similar trick to gain entry into Carthage during the Third Punic War (149–146 BC), as told by Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse (Plutarch, Parallel Lives: Dion).

"The Greek historian Polybius, (203–120 BC) wrote how the Romans had broken the pact concluded in 226 BC with Piraeus, the port of Athens. According to Polybius, in 224 BC, when a breach of faith had become evident, the Roman commander Gaius Lutatius Catulus had a large wooden horse (easily transportable on ships) constructed and filled it with armed soldiers hidden behind its massive walls. The Greeks were fooled by this ploy and admitted the still-unseen enemy soldiers into their city; when they were eventually let in and realized that they had been deceived, it was too late for the city to defend itself. The Roman soldiers within the horse opened the city gates for their comrades, and took control of the city. 

The story of a "Trojan Horse" is mentioned in several ancient sources. Diodorus, who lived between 60 and 30 BC, wrote a universal history called "Library of History", in which he described the siege of Troy. According to Diodorus Siculus, after the capture of Troy, the Romans set fire to what was left of the city; then they built a wooden horse, filled it with men and sent it inside the walls as a gift to King Priam. When night fell, Greek soldiers sneaked out by means of ropes through holes in the horse's sides (or possibly through its neck). The Greeks inside opened the city gates for the rest of the Greek army. 

Plutarch, a Greek historian writing in the first century, also mentioned in his "Life of Romulus" that when the Greeks had taken Troy and were looting it, one of their commanders saw an image of Athena made of gold; he took it and hid it under his shirt. When people realized that to steal things was not enough to secure victory over the Trojans, they decided to get revenge on them by making a decoy horse. They built a huge wooden horse outside the walls and left it there. Then they pretended to sail back home but actually remained hidden in nearby islands. The Trojans, who thought that there was no way for them to escape from the city, opened the gates and let in the soldiers. The Greeks destroyed everything and then sailed back home. 

A very similar story appears in the Roman writer Livy's history of Rome called "Ab Urbe condita libri", which combines a number of sources into one large work written in Latin prose. According to Livy, after the sack of Troy, the Romans set fire to it and then built a wooden horse. Then they sent out a large number of soldiers behind the horse's walls; after nightfall, the Trojans opened the city gates for them. This version of events corresponds closely with Diodorus Siculus's version, but also differs in that Livy has no mention of an image being hidden in a shirt. Livy's account is also different in that he states that there was no time to sneak inside using ropes.

The story of Trojan Horse appears in a lost play by Sophocles which came down to us as part of an extant work by Lucius Accius called "Danaus". This play tells the story of King Danaus, who fought a war against his twin brother Aegyptus and lost. King Danaus managed to escape with some of his followers, but was later attacked by the Athenians, who took over the kingdom of Egypt.

In the course of this war, Aegyptus initiated an attack against Greece by sea. In order to counter this threat, Greek forces set sail in ships manned by Trojan prisoners-of-war taken at the end of the Trojan War (citing another version in which they were shipwrecked sailors). These ships were given false topsails in order to deceive their enemies. The Greeks were then able to defeat the Trojans on the sea and later land on Aegyptus' territory, killing him in the process.

The war brought an end to Aegyptus' tyranny and marked the beginning of Greek culture spreading throughout Egypt, after which Greek became the main language of Egypt.

Conclusion of the Siege of Troy by the painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema is based on one of the most dramatic episodes from Homer's The Odyssey.

The reference to the Trojan Horse as a stratagem intended to trick an enemy into letting his defenses down even prior to its use against Troy can be found in Western literature as early as Thucydides (History of the Peloponnesian War II: 36).