essay about trojan horse

Trojan Horse

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The Trojan Horse was a legendary tactic used by the Greeks during the Trojan War. The Greeks constructed a large wooden horse and hid soldiers inside. They then presented the horse as a gift to the Trojans, who brought it inside their city walls. At night, the Greek soldiers emerged from the horse and opened the gates, allowing the rest of the Greek army to enter and defeat the Trojans. This story has become a metaphor for a deceptive strategy or trick used to gain entry or access to something

Trojan Horse Facts for Kids

In the Trojan War, the Greeks used a large wooden horse as a trick. Conceived by Odysseus, it was given to the Trojans who took it inside their city. Unbeknownst to them, Greek soldiers hid inside the horse. They emerged at night, letting the Greek army in. This strategy led to Troy’s downfall.

Greek Mythology

Homer’s iliad, odysseus (greek hero who conceived the trojan horse).

Odysseus, a smart Greek hero, created the idea of the Trojan Horse in the Trojan War. The horse was a big wooden structure, appearing as a gift to the Trojans. But Odysseus and his warriors were hidden inside. The Trojans brought the horse into their city. At night, the Greeks came out, opened the city gates for their army, and Troy fell. This story shows Odysseus’ strategy and his symbol, the Trojan Horse.

City of Troy

The Trojan Horse is important in Troy’s history because it led to its fall during the Trojan War. Odysseus, a Greek hero, made the horse, a big wooden structure given to the Trojans as a surrender symbol. The Trojans brought the horse into their city, not knowing it carried Greek soldiers. At night, these soldiers came out, opened the gates for their army, and Troy fell. Thus, the Trojan Horse story is closely tied to Troy’s fate.

Helen of Troy

Achaeans (greeks in homer’s epics), war strategies and deception.

The Trojan Horse is a classic example of military deception and strategic ingenuity in the context of warfare. Devised by Odysseus during the Trojan War, it was a large wooden horse, constructed by the Greeks and presented to the Trojans as a peace offering. This ruse served to deceive the Trojans into thinking that the Greeks had abandoned their siege and were offering the horse as a symbol of their surrender.

The Trojan War, happening in the 13th century, started when Prince Paris of Troy took Queen Helen from her Spartan husband. Some doubt if this war truly happened, but the legend says it was sparked by jealousy. Helen fell for Paris and left her husband, King Menelaus, who demanded her return. The Trojans decided to fight for Helen. Many Greeks, including the famous Achilles, joined Menelaus and sailed across the Aegean Sea to Troy. The army was so vast that they needed over 1,000 ships.

The Greeks could not even seem to find a way to get into the wall, it was as if the city was completely encompassed with the wall, no one in and no one out.

But this was a trick.  The Greek warriors decided that they would leave the horse and pretend to go away.

No one is really sure if this was a real thing or if the Trojan horse was a myth.

Fun Facts About the Trojan Horse:

What was the trojan horse, why was the trojan h orse important, what did the trojan horse do.

The Trojan horse was a strategic deception used by the Greeks during the Trojan War. The Greeks built a large wooden horse and left it outside the gates of Troy as a supposed peace offering. The Trojans, unaware of the Greek soldiers hidden inside, brought the horse inside their city walls. At night, the Greek soldiers emerged from the horse and opened the gates of Troy, allowing the Greek army to enter and conquer the city.

Why did the war happen between Troy and Greeks?

W as the trojan horse real, who came up with the idea of the trojan horse.

According to historical accounts, the idea of the Trojan Horse was attributed to the Greek warrior Odysseus during the Trojan War. The story goes that the Greeks constructed a giant wooden horse as a gift to the Trojans, who brought it inside their city walls. Unbeknownst to the Trojans, Greek soldiers were hiding inside the horse and were able to sneak out and attack the city, ultimately leading to their victory.

How was the Trojan Horse built?

The Trojan Horse was a legendary military tactic used by the Greeks during the Trojan War. According to the myth, the Greeks built a large wooden horse and hid soldiers inside. The Trojans, thinking it was a gift, brought the horse inside their city walls. Once inside, the Greek soldiers emerged and attacked, ultimately leading to the fall of Troy. However, there is no historical or empirical evidence to support the existence of the Trojan Horse, and it is likely a fictional story created to explain the fall of the ancient city.

How did the Greeks manage to get the Trojans to bring the horse inside the city walls?

Who were the greek soldiers who hid inside the horse.

The Greek soldiers who hid inside the horse during the Trojan War were a group of elite warriors led by Odysseus. According to the legend, they were able to infiltrate the city of Troy by pretending to offer the horse as a gift. Once inside, they emerged from their hiding place and attacked the unsuspecting Trojans, ultimately leading to the downfall of the city.

What happened after the Greek soldiers snuck out of the horse and opened the city gates?

How did the trojans react to the greek victory, what are some of the lasting legacies of the trojan horse.

The Trojan Horse is a historical event that has left a lasting legacy in popular culture. It has become a symbol of deception and betrayal, and has been referenced in literature, film, and even modern-day politics. The story has also had a significant impact on military strategy, with the term “Trojan Horse” being used to describe a tactic of infiltrating an enemy’s defenses.

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The Trojan Horse

In the tenth year of the Trojan War , despairing at their inability to take the city by storm, the Greeks resorted to a cunning little stratagem. Truth be told, “little” may not be the proper word for it, because the central part of the plan – devised by who else but Odysseus – included the construction of an enormous wooden horse. Almost everybody knows why it had been built and who lay hidden inside the hollow belly of the statue. However, the whole story is a bit more complicated than that; and it includes several memorable episodes you can find out more about below.

The Stratagem

Epeius and the construction of the horse.

Now, for Odysseus ’ plan to work, the Greeks needed a master-engineer; fortunately, they did have one in their ranks: Epeius. True, he had the reputation of being a coward, but as far as architecture was considered, there weren’t many people on the planet who could rival him both in knowledge and vision. He needed no more than three days and just a few helpers to build a huge hollow horse of fir planks, felled on Mount Ida. Following the advice of Odysseus, Epeius also installed a trap-door on one side of the wooden horse, and engraved large letters on the other: “For their return home, the Greeks dedicate this thank-offering to Athena .”

The Heroes in the Horse

Once the Wooden Horse had been built, Odysseus proceeded to persuade the bravest and the most skillful of the Greek warriors present at Troy to climb, fully armed, into its belly. Some say that there were 23 of them, while others speculate with numbers between 30 and 50. Either way, we know for sure that, in addition to Odysseus, Menelaus , Diomedes, Neoptolemus , Acamas, Sthenelus, and Thoas were also there. Even though hesitant and scared stiff, Epeius joined the party as well: he was, after all, the only one who knew how to operate the trap-door.

The Rest of the Plan

Once the night had fallen, the remaining Greeks burned their tents and, led by Agamemnon , sailed off to the nearby island of Tenedos. The plan was to stay there for a night and then go back to Troy . Odysseus’s first cousin, Sinon , was the only one left behind; and for a reason: he was supposed to signal them the appropriate moment for their return.

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The Discovery of the Trojan Horse

Priam, thymoetes, and capys.

At break of day, the Trojan scouts were met with a sight that must have been beyond joyful: the camp of the Greeks lay in ashes, deserted and all but empty. Priam and his sons immediately went out to witness this miracle with their own eyes; and, of course, the only thing they could find there was a giant wooden horse dedicated to Athens . They stood in wonder for some time, before Thymoetes suggested that they should take the horse into Troy and pull it up to Athens ’ citadel. Capys, however, had other ideas. “We should hurl into the sea this false Greek gift, or underneath it thrust a kindling flame, or pierce the hollow ambush of its womb with probing spear! Athene favored the Greeks for far too long...” Priam was in favor of Thymoetes’ proposal: since the horse was an offering to a goddess, desecrating it didn’t seem to the king of Troy as such a great idea.

Laocoon’s Warning

At that very moment, hurrying down from the citadel and followed by a large crowd, the Trojan priest Laocoon started shouting from afar: “O unhappy men! What madness this? Who deems our foemen fled? Think ye the gifts of Greece can lack for guile? Have ye not known Ulysses ?... This is all a trap. Trust not this horse, o countrymen, whatever it may bring! I fear the Greeks, even when they bring gifts.” Saying that, Laocoon whirled a spear in the direction of the Horse. Numerous cheers followed this fearsome act: “Burn it!” “Pierce it!” “Hurl it over the walls!”

Sinon Clarifies His Presence

This argument was interrupted by the arrival of Sinon , brought in chained by a couple of Trojan soldiers. Now, it is difficult to say whether Odysseus had planned for this part as well, or whether the Greeks merely had a stroke of luck; be that as it may, it was Sinon who eventually convinced the Trojans to roll the horse through the Gates of Troy. He explained to Priam that the Greeks, weary of warring and downcast after the death of Achilles , had deliberated leaving Troy for a couple of months, and they would have done that much earlier if not for the bad weather. Calchas , the most famous Achaean prophet, announced that the only way for the winds to be appeased was through human sacrifice; the scapegoat he pointed his finger at (in a nice touch to the story, supposedly “bribed by Odysseus”) was none other than Sinon himself. However, the favorable winds sprang up before the ceremony took place, and Sinon managed to make his escape in the confusion.

Sinon’s Explanation of the Wooden Horse

“Let’s say that we believe you, Sinon,” replied Priam. “But what’s with the horse?” “Oh, that! It is merely a placatory gift to Athene , who stopped helping the Greeks after Odysseus and Diomedes stole a statue from her temple.” “Nonetheless,” Priam had a good follow-up question, why make it so huge?” But Sinon had an even better answer: “So that you are unable to bring it into the city. For Calchas had prophesized that If you defile it, a horrible ruin – o, may the gods bring it on Calchas rather! – would come on your throne; however, if you manage to wheel it to your own citadel, then you will become a ruler of all Asia and invade Greece.”

The Death of Laocoon

“Lies, all lies,” cried Laocoon. “Every word he uttered sounds as if invented by Odysseus! Believe him not, Priam!” However, it is difficult for one to blame the king of Troy for not taking the Trojan priest seriously when, just as he was saying this, two serpents swam out of the sea and strangled Laocoon and his twin sons. In reality, the snakes were sent by Apollo in punishment for when Laocoon once slept with his wife in front of Apollo ’s image; to the eyes of the Trojans, however, they were a sign of the gods: Sinon had obviously spoken the truth, and Laocoon was punished for lying and throwing a spear at the Horse.

The Bloody Celebration

Helen and deiphobus.

With much effort, the Trojans dragged the Wooden Horse inside their Gates, consecrated it to Athene, and started wildly celebrating their victory. During the festivities, Helen and Priam’s son Deiphobos sneaked to the wooden statue. As Deiphobus was observing it in marvel and patting its planks, Helen amused him by calling out the names of the Greek heroes in the voice of their wives. It is not known whether Helen was a part of the plan as well, and this was a whim of overconfidence, or whether she was merely joyful, but, owing to either displeasure or eagerness, many Greeks were tempted to leap out of the horse at this point – especially Menelaus and Diomedes. However, Odysseus restrained them all, patiently waiting for the proper moment for him to enact the final act of his devious plan.

At midnight, just before the seventh full moon of that year had risen, Sinon slipped through the Gates of Troy and kindled a beacon – the signal Agamemnon had waited for to return with the Achaean fleet to shore. An hour or so later, in the dead silence of the night, Odysseus raised his sword and ordered Epeius to unlock the trap-door. Echion was the first one to jump out of the horse; being too eager and reckless, he fell and broke his neck; the rest used Epeius’ rope-ladder. Soon enough, Agamemnon’s army stormed through the open gates. Not even the gods could save Troy now.

The Trojan Horse Sources

Most of this story is told by Virgil in the second book of the Aeneid , which you can read here in Dryden’s rhymed version, and here in Theodore C. Williams blank verse translation; for a summary of the same events, consult the epitome of Apollodorus’ Library .

See Also: Trojan War , The Sack of Troy, The Returns of the Greek Heroes , Odysseus

The Trojan Horse Associations

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Trojan War — Trojan Horse

Trojan Horse: an Analysis of Accepting Such a "Gift"

• Categories: Trojan War

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Published: Dec 12, 2018

Words: 737 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

The ignored warnings, the creation of the trojan horse, the lessons learned, references:.

• Cartwright, M. (2016). “The Trojan War.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. https://www.ancient.eu/trojan_war/
• Morris, S. P. (2007). “The Wooden Horse.” The Classical Journal, 102(1), 97–114.
• Lendon, J. E. (2007). “The Ethics of the Trojan Horse.” Journal of Military Ethics, 6(2), 83–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/15027570701471032
• Romilly, J. de. (2003). “The Teaching of Literature: The Fall of Troy and the Odyssey.” In M. Davies (Ed.), Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta (Vol. 3, pp. 195–202). Brill.
• Woodford, S. (2009). “Troy: From Homer’s Iliad to Hollywood Epic.” Blackwell Publishing.

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What started the Trojan War?

Was the trojan war real, who won the trojan war.

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According to the ancient Greek epic poet Homer , the Trojan War was caused by Paris , son of the Trojan king, and Helen , wife of the Greek king Menelaus , when they went off together to Troy. To get her back, Menelaus sought help from his brother Agamemnon , who assembled a Greek army to defeat Troy.

Another myth attributes the origin of the Trojan War to a quarrel between the goddesses Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera over who among them was the fairest. After Paris chose Aphrodite, Athena and Hera plotted against Troy .

There has been much debate over historical evidence of the Trojan War. Archaeological finds in Turkey suggest that the city of Troy did exist but that a conflict on the immense scale of a 10-year siege may not have actually occurred. There is also contention over whether the ruins in Turkey represent the same Troy as the one Homer and others described in Greek mythology.

The Greeks won the Trojan War. According to the Roman epic poet Virgil , the Trojans were defeated after the Greeks left behind a large wooden horse and pretended to sail for home. Unbeknown to the Trojans, the wooden horse was filled with Greek warriors. They sacked Troy after the Trojans brought the horse inside the city walls.

What happened to Achilles in the Trojan War?

The death of Achilles , the greatest Greek warrior of the Trojan War, is not described in Homeric works. In Arctinus’s Aethiopis , Achilles is said to have been killed by Paris of Troy .

Trojan War , legendary conflict between the early Greeks and the people of Troy in western Anatolia , dated by later Greek authors to the 12th or 13th century bce . The war stirred the imagination of the ancient Greeks more than any other event in their history and was celebrated in the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer , as well as a number of other early works now lost, and frequently provided material for the great dramatists of the Classical Age. It also figures in the literature of the Romans (e.g., Virgil ’s Aeneid ) and of later peoples down to modern times.

In the traditional accounts, Paris , son of the Trojan king, ran off with Helen , wife of Menelaus of Sparta , whose brother Agamemnon then led a Greek expedition against Troy. The ensuing war lasted 10 years, finally ending when the Greeks pretended to withdraw, leaving behind them a large wooden horse with a raiding party concealed inside. When the Trojans brought the horse into their city, the hidden Greeks opened the gates to their comrades, who then sacked Troy, massacred its men, and carried off its women. This version was recorded centuries later; the extent to which it reflects actual historical events is not known.

Unravelling the True Story of the Legendary Trojan Horse

• Read Later  

The Trojan horse really exists, or rather did exist until a few years ago.

It is a horse that has crossed history over the last 3,000 years, who has made poets, princes, kings, and emperors fall in love with it. It has fought in all the most important wars, won memorable races, traveled all over the known world and then died out less than 50 years ago, just a step away from the 21st century.

The Trojan War and the Horse That Left its Mark

Everyone remembers how the siege of the city of Troy ended, narrated by the poet Homer around the 12th century BC. It was Ulysses who devised the winning stratagem after 10 years of ruthless war between the Acheans, who besieged the city, and the Trojans who defended it. Odysseus pretended to abandon the battlefield and retreat with his ships. Before leaving the beach, however, he designed a huge wooden horse, making it look like a propitiatory act towards Poseidon . The horse was in fact one of the symbols with which he was depicted.

Inside the statue, Ulysses hid himself, fully armed, together with about fifty warriors. The Trojans, convinced that the long siege had finally come to an end, dragged the horse inside the walls as spoils of war. When the tired and drunken Trojans went to sleep late at night, the fifty brave Acheans had no difficulty in getting out of the horse, opening the city gates to the rest of the army, which had meanwhile returned from the beach, and then conquered the city together.

To the modern readers of Homeric poems it may have seemed a great naivety to bring that votive sculpture within the walls of the city. But it is important to know that for the Trojans, the horse, their horse, was sacred. It was an animal that was bred with maniacal care, selecting the best specimens for courage, strength, endurance and above all speed. They were horses with white livery (although technically we should say grey) of small to medium stature (especially by today's standards) and "not beautiful but fast" as described around 500 BC by the historian and geographer Hecataeus of Miletus.

The first mention of these horses can be found in the Iliad where they are present in the "Catalogue of Heroes" (book II, 851-852) in which Homer tells of the attempt by the Venetians of Paphlagonia, allies of the Trojans, to free the city. Paphlagonia was a region of present-day Turkey, not far from Troy where, Homer writes, "the race of wild mules was born".

Still today, however, not all historians and archaeologists believe the legend of the wooden horse. Some claim it was a Phoenician boat with a horse-shaped figurehead called hippos, others a catapult similar to a horse's head. The only real Trojan horse of which one can be absolutely certain of, is the tenacious, brave and very fast white horse of the Venetians of Paphlagonia.

The Trojan Horses That Survived the War

Homer tells us that the head of the Venetians, Pylaemenes was killed in battle by Menelaus, King of Sparta and husband of Helen, the woman for whom the fierce war between the Acheans and Trojans originated. Meanwhile in Paphlagonia, taking advantage of the absence of the army engaged in the war in Troy, there was an insurrection. The Venetian soldiers, therefore, having to flee from the burning city and not being able to return to their land, joined the wise Trojan Antenor.

Depiction of a battle during the Trojan War, including horses and chariots, where Menelaus fought Paris. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art / Public domain )

He led them and their herd of precious surviving horses from the coasts of the Black Sea to the lagoon of Venice. The migration is also testified by the Roman historian Titus Livy in his essay Ab urbe condita , where he explains that Venetians and Trojans arrived “in the innermost gulf of the Adriatic Sea, in the land of the Euganeans, between the sea and the Alps.”

From there they settled in various encampments that later became important cities such as Padua, Treviso and Belluno, going as far as Santa Lucia in Slovenia. In particular the Venetian horse breeders found their place of election along the Piave River, so that after several centuries, their horses took the name of Venetian Horses of the Piave breed.

Ancient and Unanimous Nobility of the Piave Breed

From then on, very few animals can claim such an ancient and unanimous license of nobility in their pedigree. In classical Greece, these horses are honored by poets, historians and writers for their speed, endurance and immaculate ivory cloaks. The Spartan poet Alcman, for example, in the 7th century BC compared them to the woman he loved to enhance their beauty.

Here are his immortal verses: "She presents herself to us so beautiful, as if she were standing in the midst of a flock of sheep, a vigorous horse, triumphant in races, with her hooves resounding with winged dreams. Do you see him? He is a Venetian purebred."

One of the greatest Athenian tragic poets, Euripides, also deals with this splendid animal several times. For example, in the 5 th century poem "Hippolytus", he writes: "Artemis, lady of Limma Marittima and the rumbling stadiums of horses, oh to be in your plains, to be able to tame the foals from Veneto."

Before that, there had been Hesiod, Pindar and many others, until 440 BC when charioteer Leo Spartan won the 85th Olympics with a pair of mares from Veneto. From that day on, this breed also became sacred to the Greeks, so much so that Leo wanted an inscription dedicated to the Venetian horses in his statue.

In the meantime, the Venetians made the horse their reason for living. This ancient and noble people called the horse "Evko", an Indo-European word similar to the Latin "equus" and the Sanskrit "akvas". A root that can still be found today in several places such as il Cavallino (Equilium), a peninsula in front of Venice, or Acelum a hilly village near Treviso, present in the list of the most beautiful villages in Italy, where the famous prosecco wine is produced.

In these lands, the breeding and trade of horses became one of the main drivers of their economy. The discovery of coins in the areas around the Piave River, Corinth, Syracuse and Magna Graecia, evidenced a flourishing trade.

The Greek historian Strabo, who lived at the turn of the first century, also tells us that the Venetians used to mark each of their horses with a wolf-shaped mark and for this reason they were also called “Lycophore,” which in Latin means wolf bearer. This tradition lasted until the last horse of the Piave breed died out about forty years ago. Strabo had the opportunity to see one of these horses himself, which was branded with the wolf's head.

Importance to the Roman Empire

Even in ancient Rome the horses from Veneto had a special place. The Roman cavalry constantly supplied itself with horses and riders from Veneto, of which it always sought an alliance. The trust given by the Romans to these warriors and breeders was well placed, because the Venetians had enormous glory in battle. Among the many successes, the most celebrated was the tragic and bloody battle of Talamone against the Celts , who in 225 BC were annihilated by a coalition of four Roman legions, a contingent of Etruscans and precisely the Venetian cavalry. 

But in Rome, if possible, the Venetian coursers were even more famous in times of peace. In the ludi circenses , the famous public games held at the Circus Maximus or the Colosseum, Venetian horses were the stars of chariot races. The most popular and beloved attraction along with gladiator fights.

The ‘Veneta factio’ ran with the blue insignia, the national color of the Veneti inspired by the linen flower that these people were expert growers and competed in a lane specially dedicated to it. Still nowadays, in the numerous re-enactments that are organized in Rome for tourist purposes, ‘the Blues’ are the main attraction.

Mosaic depicting a charioteer and a horse from the Veneta factio (Blue) from 3 rd century AD in Palazzo Massimo all Terme, Rome. (Carole Raddato / CC BY-SA 2.0 )

The Middle Ages and Napoleon’s Obsession

At the beginning of the Middle Ages , after the fall of the Roman Empire, a particular variety of more sturdy Veneto horses called "Paduan" were established, suitable to support the heavy armor of medieval knights during the numerous bloody battles or to transport the large chariots with supplies and goods. The painter, sculptor and architect Donatello, immortalized this noble steed in Padua in the famous equestrian monument dedicated to Gattamelata, an Italian warlord who fought in  Veneto in the mid-15 th century.

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Statue of the Gattamelata. (photo taken by the author)

In that period, needs, habits and lifestyles changed. New pastimes such as the carousel, the palio and the tournament became established, where these mighty animals were the most celebrated heroes. Shakespeare also took care of them, as in the “Taming of the Shrew” quotes them: Gremio: "And I would gladly give my horse, the best in Padua, to that man who began to seriously court her...". 

Among the most prestigious horse rides of the time, there is certainly that of Verona, also mentioned by Dante in the VX of  Hell (Divine Comedy). A popular entertainment that already in the 12 th century saw women competing too.

The fame of these horses, now widespread throughout Europe and Asia Minor, was the origin of great exhibitions including the “Fiera dei Cavalli e dei Morosi” near Verona and the “Fiera di Santa Lucia” near Treviso. Both of them are still held today and have abundantly over a thousand years of history.

The Fiera di Santa Lucia, in particular, boasts a two-thousand-year history, being the heir of a previous paleo-Venetian exhibition of sacred horses dedicated to the god of light Lugh, which later developed and became international around the 6 th century with the reign of the Franks.

Venetian horses were then exported to improve local breeds in France, Belgium, Holland, the Balkans and even Asia Minor. This was well known to horse connoisseurs, such as the French. So much so, that between the end of 1700 and the beginning of 1800, Napoleon organized six conquest campaigns in Veneto during which he ordered his army to raid horses.

Napoleon on horseback (which could be of the Venetian breed). ( CC BY 2.0 )

Within the blood of these famous white horses of which the French emperor loved so much, it would seem that Trojan/Venetian blood was flowing. Once he had conquered Venice, Napoleon plundered it by stealing more than thirty thousand works of art of inestimable value, including Tiziano, Mantegna and Veronese.

The most brutal and unbearable spoliation for the Venetians, however, was that of St. Mark's horses. A sculptural group of four bronze horses dating back to the 2 nd century BC, which the Venetians had taken from the Hippodrome of Constantinople , because they celebrated their victories with their horses' chariots. The event is also documented by a press release dated 1797 (entitled: The French troops steal St. Mark's horses ), which sees a Piazza San Marco crowded with French soldiers intent on transporting the precious relic.

The magnificent bronze horses of St. Mark's Basilica. (Nick Thompson / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 )

The Greatest Admirer: The Hapsburg Empire

The greatest buyer and admirer of Venetian horses, however, was probably another empire, the Hapsburg Empire . Already from its birth the Austro-Hungarians had begun to attend the equine fairs of the Veneto in search of horses of great resistance and courage to equip their cavalry or their imperial carriages.

It is therefore more than likely that the famous Princess Sissi (wife of Franz Joseph of Hapsburg) used Venetian horses during her travels and parades. Sissi, who was also a great equestrian rider and lover of long rides, lived in Venice for 7 months, between 1862 and 1863, to cure herself of a nervous illness. At this point she came into direct contact with the places where these horses were born.

The Empress of the Hapsburg Empire, Elisabeth Amelie Eugenie of Wittelsbach, known as Sissi, posing on a horse in 1896 in Biarritz, France. (Unidentified photographer / Public domain )

But there is a further circumstance that ties the Venetian horses to Vienna and the Hapsburgs, namely the Lipizzaner horses of the Spanish riding school in Vienna, which is the oldest riding school of its kind in the world. This academy still gathers tourists from all over the world and uses exclusively Italian Lipizzaner horses.

The Lipizzaners are very vigorous white horses (technically grey as mentioned above), which owe their name to their origin, the town of Lipizzaner (now in Slovenia), located less than 100 kilometers (62 mi) south of the aforementioned St. Lucia in Slovenia, where one of the first camps of Venetians and Trojans fleeing the burning city settled.

Among the first evidence of this Lipizzaner breed is documentation in relation to the sale of a land with horses attached, dated 1580. Tracing this document we learn that they come from some mares in Verona and Aquileia. These are the very places where the Venetians had set up some of the oldest horse farms. After all, it is enough to take a look at the statue of Gattamelata and compare it to a modern Lipizzaner to notice remarkable similarities.

A First World War Hero That Inspired the Ferrari Horse

The last moment of glory of the Piave horses was during the First World War, where thanks to them the enemy was stopped on the Piave River, the land where more than three thousand years before they were first bread. Brave and tireless, they dragged the wagons along the line of fire, carrying weapons, supplies and rescuing the wounded. They ran between the wards to bring orders, launched attacks and resisted in battle without eating or drinking for days.

But the greatest legacy that this mythological animal managed to leave to the 21 st century is due to one of the most intrepid top guns of the First World War, Francesco Baracca, ace of the skies who remained unbeaten throughout the war winning 34 air duels fought with his SPAD VII (for some battles XIII) fighter jet on the Piave line. It's no coincidence that his heraldic insignia on the left side of his plane was a prancing horse.

Francesco Baracca with his SPAD fighter jet with the prancing horse logo that later became the emblem of Ferrari. (Tom Wigley / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 )

To date, it is not clear why this aviator, coming from the cavalry, had chosen the little horse as his symbol of battle. It is reasonable to suppose that he admired the value of the Venetian steeds he saw fighting under him and therefore, he had chosen the model horse for inspiration. He who, even as a knight, had fought in the saddle of one of these strong animals and even when he was already flying for some time, he was still portrayed in the photos with the spurs.

Francesco Baracca then died in battle from a rifle shot fired from the ground a few hundred meters from the course of the Piave River. At the end of the war, in 1923, a young and brilliant Italian engineer named Enzo Ferrari, fascinated by the deeds of the war hero, asked for and obtained from Francesco Baracca's mother the use of the symbol to build his sports cars.

Since then, the Ferrari/Cavallino rampante duo has been synonymous worldwide with speed, intrepidness, charm and power. The same values and virtues that those ancestral horses have been able to express throughout the course of human history.

The classic Ferrari car emblem, which was inspired by the Italian war hero Francesco Baracca and the Venetian horse. ( CC0 1.0 )

After the First World War, the mechanization of the countryside and mass motorization marked the decline of this breed. In an advertisement for a Fiat commercial vehicle in 1931, the text explicitly said: “He is more docile than a horse, faster and when he is not working, he does not eat.”

The Veneto horse still resisted as a pet and recreational animal in the most remote areas of eastern Veneto until it was declared extinct in 1974. At the beginning of the new millennium a project of the Veneto region began a genetic study to try to reconstitute it, but at the moment there is still nothing official.

Top image: Detail from The Procession of the Trojan Horse in Troy painting. (Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo / Public domain )

By Paolo Latini

Alcman. n.d. The First Partheneion . De Gruyter.

Euripides. c.428 BC. Hippolytus. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.

Franko, G. 2006. The Trojan Horse at the Close of the "Iliad".   The Classical Journal, Vol. 101, No. 2 (Dec. - Jan., 2005/2006).

Gerosa, G. 2017. Napoleone. Un rivoluzionario alla conquista di un impero. Mondadori

Hecataeus of Miletus. n.d. Periodos ges . n.p.

Hesiod. c.700 BC. Theogony. Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency LLC.

Homer. c.1180 BC. The Iliad. Penguin Classic.

Homer. c.700 BC. The Odyssey . W. W. Norton & Company.

Livy, T. c.9 BC. Ab urbe condita . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Gmbh & Co.

Pindar. c.464 BC. Olympian VII. Cambridge University Press.

Polibio. c.150 BC. Storie. Testo greco a fronte . BUR Biblioteca Univ. Rizzoli

Razza Piave, Emanuele Bellò, Sismondi Editore.

Tibon, F. 2017. La presa di Troia. Un inganno venuto dal mare. Ediz. Storia e Studi Sociali.

Paolo Latini : Macrotrends researcher, has created the blog www.Linkredibile.com , through which he keeps his readers updated upon the social evolutions, connected to the explotation of technologies, purchasing behaviour and product concept. Paolo is even the founder of Mitigare,... Read More

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By: History.com Editors

Updated: May 31, 2023 | Original: December 18, 2009

The story of the Trojan War—the Bronze Age conflict between the kingdoms of Troy and Mycenaean Greece–straddles the history and mythology of ancient Greece and inspired the greatest writers of antiquity, from Homer, Herodotus and Sophocles to Virgil. Since the 19th-century rediscovery of the site of Troy in what is now western Turkey, archaeologists have uncovered increasing evidence of a kingdom that peaked and may have been destroyed around 1,180 B.C.—perhaps forming the basis for the tales recounted by Homer some 400 years later in the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.”

The Narrative of the Trojan War

According to classical sources, the war began after the abduction (or elopement) of Queen Helen of Sparta by the Trojan prince Paris. Helen’s jilted husband Menelaus convinced his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to lead an expedition to retrieve her. Agamemnon was joined by the Greek heroes Achilles , Odysseus, Nestor and Ajax, and accompanied by a fleet of more than a thousand ships from throughout the Hellenic world. They crossed the Aegean Sea to Asia Minor to lay siege to Troy and demand Helen’s return by Priam, the Trojan king.

Did you know? Some traditions portray Homer as a blind poet, because the name Homer sounds like a word for "blind" in some Greek dialects. In the “Odyssey,” a blind bard appears telling stories of the war, which some interpret as a cameo by the poem's author.

The siege, punctuated by battles and skirmishes including the storied deaths of the Trojan prince Hector and the nearly-invincible Achilles, lasted more than 10 years until the morning the Greek armies retreated from their camp, leaving a large wooden horse outside the gates of Troy. After much debate (and unheeded warnings by Priam’s daughter Cassandra), the Trojans pulled the mysterious gift into the city. When night fell, the horse opened up and a group of Greek warriors, led by Odysseus, climbed out and sacked the Troy from within.

After the Trojan defeat, the Greeks heroes slowly made their way home. Odysseus took 10 years to make the arduous and often-interrupted journey home to Ithaca recounted in the “Odyssey.” Helen, whose two successive Trojan husbands were killed during the war, returned to Sparta to reign with Menelaus. After his death, some sources say she was exiled to the island of Rhodes, where a vengeful war widow had her hanged.

The Trojan War Epics

Little is known about the historical Homer. Historians date the completion of the “Iliad” to about 750 B.C., and the “Odyssey” to about 725. Both began within the oral tradition, and were first transcribed decades or centuries after their composition. Many of the most familiar episodes of the war, from the abduction of Helen to the Trojan Horse and the sack of Troy, come from the so-called “Epic Cycle” of narratives assembled in the sixth century B.C. from older oral traditions.

In the first century B.C. the Roman poet Virgil composed the “Aeneid,” the third great classical epic inspired by the Trojan War. It follows a group of Trojans led by the hero Aeneas who leave their destroyed city to travel to Carthage before founding the city of Rome. Virgil’s aim was in part to give Rome’s first imperial dynasty an origin story as impressive as that of the Greeks.

Is the Trojan War a Real War?

Many portions of the Trojan War epics are difficult to read historically. Several of the main characters are direct offspring of the Greek gods (Helen was fathered by Zeus, who disguised himself as a swan and raped her mother Leda), and much of the action is guided (or interfered with) by the various competing gods. For example, Paris supposedly won Helen’s love after awarding the Goddess Aphrodite the golden apple for her beauty (“The Judgment of Paris” tells the story of how Paris was asked to select the most beautiful goddess between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite by granting the winner a golden apple). Lengthy sieges were recorded in the era, but the strongest cities could only hold out for a few months, not 10 full years.

Major excavations at the site of Troy in 1870 under the direction of German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann revealed a small citadel mound and layers of debris 25 meters deep. Later studies have document more than 46 building phases grouped into nine bands representing the site’s inhabitation from 3,000 B.C. until its final abandonment in A.D. 1350. Recent excavations have shown an inhabited area 10 times the size of the citadel, making Troy a significant Bronze Age city. Layer VIIa of the excavations, dated to about 1180 B.C., reveals charred debris and scattered skeletons—evidence of a wartime destruction of the city that may have inspired portions of the story of the Trojan War. In Homer’s day, 400 years later, its ruins would have still been visible.

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Investigating the Reality of the Trojan Horse

This essay is about the historical and mythological analysis of the Trojan Horse as depicted in Homer’s epic poem the Iliad. It examines the story of the Greeks’ cunning strategy to infiltrate Troy using a wooden horse and discusses the archaeological and historical evidence related to the Trojan War. The essay explores various theories about the horse’s existence and its symbolic significance highlighting the ongoing debate among scholars regarding the blend of myth and history in ancient narratives.

How it works

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Archaeological excavations on landscape Troy conducted Heinrich Schliemann and posterior erudite unearthed layers certificate moves millenniums. These opening lean existence one succeeds municipal adequacy description Homer asserts basis historical trojan war. However specific certificate the nearest future confirms trojan itself passes unnoticeable dwelling.

Historians offer theories well-assorted in words from plausible horse trojan. Different offer it was able to be a show siege tactics or narrative symbolic decoration metaphorical. Other hypothesize at a case passed a siege motor or strategy includes subterfuge as wooden a word for word horse. Absence archaeological direct certificate for a horse size and gate pareille complicates efforts to confirm his existence finally.

Except that analysis criticizes ancient texts after epics Homer tracks down a change additions and interpretations trojan war through well-assorted fountains. These disproportions distinguish an appeal untangles a historical act from a literary invention in ancient stories.

In conclusion while the Trojan Horse remains a captivating symbol of ancient military ingenuity and mythic storytelling its historical veracity remains ambiguous. The tale’s endurance through millennia reflects its profound cultural significance rather than straightforward historical truth. Scholars continue to explore and debate the boundaries between myth and history enriching our understanding of the ancient world and its enduring legends.

Thus the Trojan Horse whether real or allegorical exemplifies the intricate interplay between myth history and cultural memory in shaping our perceptions of the past.

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Trojan Horse Essays

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The Trojan Horse

Server costs fundraiser 2024, illustration.

A scene from the end of the Trojan War . The Greeks, to infiltrate the city , had taken the advice of Odysseus and tricked the Trojans into believing the Greek forces had left Troy . Leaving behind the offering of a massive horse the Greeks hoped the Trojans would take the horse into their city, which they did. Hiding inside, though, was a contingent of Greek warriors who opened the gates of Troy and allowed the returning army to finally sack the city. (From a painting by Henri Motte).

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Cite this work.

Tetraktyas. (2013, May 14). The Trojan Horse . World History Encyclopedia . Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/1215/the-trojan-horse/

Chicago Style

Tetraktyas. " The Trojan Horse ." World History Encyclopedia . Last modified May 14, 2013. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/1215/the-trojan-horse/.

Tetraktyas. " The Trojan Horse ." World History Encyclopedia . World History Encyclopedia, 14 May 2013. Web. 02 Sep 2024.

Trojan Horse Virus

Discover how Trojans work, the types of Trojan malware, and how to recognize them.

What is a Trojan Horse Virus?

A Trojan Horse Virus is a type of malware that downloads onto a computer disguised as a legitimate program. The delivery method typically sees an attacker use social engineering to hide malicious code within legitimate software to try and gain users' system access with their software.

A simple way to answer the question " what is Trojan " is it is a type of malware that typically gets hidden as an attachment in an email or a free-to-download file, then transfers onto the user’s device. Once downloaded, the malicious code will execute the task the attacker designed it for, such as gain backdoor access to corporate systems, spy on users’ online activity, or steal sensitive data.

Indications of a Trojan being active on a device include unusual activity such as computer settings being changed unexpectedly.

History of the Trojan Horse

The original story of the Trojan horse can be found in the Aeneid by Virgil and the Odyssey by Homer. In the story, the enemies of the city of Troy were able to get inside the city gates using a horse they pretended was a gift. The soldiers hid inside the huge wooden horse and once inside, they climbed out and let the other soldiers in.

There are a few elements of the story that make the term “Trojan horse” an appropriate name for these types of cyber attacks :

• The Trojan horse was a unique solution to the target’s defenses . In the original story, the attackers had laid siege to the city for 10 years and hadn’t succeeded in defeating it. The Trojan horse gave them the access they had been wanting for a decade. A Trojan virus, similarly, can be a good way to get behind an otherwise tight set of defenses.
• The Trojan horse appeared to be a legitimate gift . In a similar vein, a Trojan virus looks like legitimate software.
• The soldiers in the Trojan horse controlled the city’s defense system . With a Trojan virus, the malware takes control of your computer, potentially leaving it vulnerable to other “invaders.”

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How Trojans Work

Unlike computer viruses , a  Trojan horse  cannot manifest by itself, so it needs a user to download the server side of the application for it to work. This means the executable (.exe) file should be implemented and the program installed for the Trojan to attack a device’s system. 

A Trojan virus spreads through legitimate-looking emails and files attached to emails, which are spammed to reach the inboxes of as many people as possible. When the email is opened and the malicious attachment is downloaded, the Trojan server will install and automatically run every time the infected device is turned on. 

Devices can also be infected by a Trojan through social engineering tactics, which cyber criminals use to coerce users into downloading a malicious application. The malicious file could be hidden in banner advertisements, pop-up advertisements, or links on websites. 

A computer infected by Trojan malware can also spread it to other computers. A cyber criminal turns the device into a zombie computer, which means they have remote control of it without the user knowing. Hackers can then use the zombie computer to continue sharing malware across a network of devices, known as a botnet.

For example, a user might receive an email from someone they know, which includes an attachment that also looks legitimate. However, the attachment contains malicious code that executes and installs the Trojan on their device. The user often will not know anything untoward has occurred, as their computer may continue to work normally with no signs of it having been infected. 

The malware will reside undetected until the user takes a certain action, such as visiting a certain website or banking app. This will activate the malicious code, and the Trojan will carry out the hacker’s desired action. Depending on the type of Trojan and how it was created, the malware may delete itself, return to being dormant, or remain active on the device.

Trojans can also attack and infect smartphones and tablets using a strand of mobile malware. This could occur through the attacker redirecting traffic to a device connected to a Wi-Fi network and then using it to launch cyberattacks.

Most Common Types of Trojan Malware

There are many types of  Trojan horse viruses  that cyber criminals use to carry out different actions and different attack methods. The most common types of Trojan used include:

• Backdoor Trojan : A backdoor Trojan enables an attacker to gain remote access to a computer and take control of it using a backdoor. This enables the malicious actor to do whatever they want on the device, such as deleting files, rebooting the computer, stealing data, or uploading malware. A backdoor Trojan is frequently used to create a botnet through a network of zombie computers.
• Banker Trojan : A banker Trojan is designed to target users’ banking accounts and financial information. It attempts to steal account data for credit and debit cards, e-payment systems, and online banking systems.
• Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) Trojan : These Trojan programs carry out attacks that overload a network with traffic. It will send multiple requests from a computer or a group of computers to overwhelm a target web address and cause a denial of service.
• Downloader Trojan : A downloader Trojan targets a computer that has already been infected by malware, then downloads and installs more malicious programs to it. This could be additional Trojans or other types of malware like adware .
• Exploit Trojan : An exploit malware program contains code or data that takes advantage of specific vulnerabilities within an application or computer system. The cyber criminal will target users through a method like a phishing attack, then use the code in the program to exploit a known vulnerability.
• Fake antivirus Trojan : A fake antivirus Trojan simulates the actions of legitimate antivirus software. The Trojan is designed to detect and remove threats like a regular antivirus program, then extort money from users for removing threats that may be nonexistent.
• Game-thief Trojan : A game-thief Trojan is specifically designed to steal user account information from people playing online games.
• Instant messaging (IM) Trojan : This type of Trojan targets IM services to steal users’ logins and passwords. It targets popular messaging platforms such as AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Skype, and Yahoo Pager.
• Infostealer Trojan : This malware can either be used to install Trojans or prevent the user from detecting the existence of a malicious program. The components of infostealer Trojans can make it difficult for antivirus systems to discover them in scans.
• Mailfinder Trojan : A mailfinder Trojan aims to harvest and steal email addresses that have been stored on a computer.
• Ransom Trojan : Ransom Trojans seek to impair a computer’s performance or block data on the device so that the user can no longer access or use it. The attacker will then hold the user or organization ransom until they pay a ransom fee to undo the device damage or unlock the affected data.
• Remote access Trojan : Similar to a backdoor Trojan, this strand of malware gives the attacker full control of a user’s computer. The cyber criminal maintains access to the device through a remote network connection, which they use to steal information or spy on a user.
• Rootkit Trojan : A rootkit is a type of malware that conceals itself on a user’s computer. Its purpose is to stop malicious programs from being detected, which enables malware to remain active on an infected computer for a longer period.
• Short message service (SMS) Trojan : An SMS Trojan infects mobile devices and is capable of sending and intercepting text messages. This includes sending messages to premium-rate phone numbers, which increases the costs on a user’s phone bill.
• Spy Trojan : Spy Trojans are designed to sit on a user’s computer and spy on their activity. This includes logging their keyboard actions, taking screenshots, accessing the applications they use, and tracking login data.
• SUNBURST : The SUNBURST trojan virus was released on numerous SolarWinds Orion Platform. Victims were compromised by trojanized versions of a legitimate SolarWinds digitally signed file named: SolarWinds.Orion.Core.BusinessLayer.dll. The trojanized file is a backdoor. Once on a target machine, it remains dormant for a two-week period and will then retrieve commands that allow it to transfer, execute, perform reconnaissance, reboot and halt system services. Communication occurs over http to predetermined URI's.

How to Recognize a Trojan Virus

A Trojan horse virus can often remain on a device for months without the user knowing their computer has been infected. However, telltale signs of the presence of a Trojan include computer settings suddenly changing, a loss in computer performance, or unusual activity taking place. The best way to recognize a Trojan is to search a device using a Trojan scanner or malware-removal software.

Examples of Trojan horse virus attacks

Trojan attacks have been responsible for causing major damage by infecting computers and stealing user data. Well-known examples of Trojans include:

• Rakhni Trojan:  The Rakhni Trojan delivers ransomware or a cryptojacker tool—which enables an attacker to use a device to mine cryptocurrency—to infect devices. 
• Tiny Banker:  Tiny Banker enables hackers to steal users’ financial details. It was discovered when it infected at least 20 U.S. banks.
• Zeus or Zbot:  Zeus is a toolkit that targets financial services and enables hackers to build their own Trojan malware. The source code uses techniques like form grabbing and keystroke logging to steal user credentials and financial details. 

How to protect yourself from Trojan viruses

Practicing good cyber hygiene is always the best first line of defense against Trojan viruses and other threats. Keep your operating systems updated and patched, run anti-virus software and allow it to scan your devices regularly, and avoid phishing attacks by carefully inspecting inbound emails.

While browsing the web, pay attention to the URLs displayed in your browser address bar. Also, inspect links before you click on them. And install a privacy or security extension from your browser vendor's extensions store.

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Trojan Horse

Misusing greek mythology on a college campus sneaks white supremacy in the back door.

Monuments across the United States and around the world are being toppled during the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests , with tens of thousands participating in the destruction of these hideous symbols of white supremacy. While some universities have reckoned over the past decade with their complicity in slavery and systemic racism by destroying or adding positively to their visual symbology (Brown University, for example, placed a striking slavery memorial, commissioned by renowned Black artist Martin Puryear, centrally on its main campus in 2014), many have not. At our institution, the University of Southern California, there are statues and symbols across campus that reinforce a white supremacist ideology.

These cultural forms act as “Trojan horses,” sneaking offensive, even racist and sexist ideas into the fabric of the university where they lie in wait to do harm.

In our case, one has to begin, of course, with the hyper-masculine bronze statue of Tommy Trojan (erected in 1930) at the center of campus. This anachronistic helmeted and scantily clad phallic and Aryan figure, his arm thrusting his sword forth from his crotch area, is an unofficial school mascot. It stands across from a gleaming white horse representing USC’s official mascot, Traveler the horse, a gift from previous president Steven Sample. Students and faculty walk the gauntlet between these two monuments every day.

USC has a poor record when it comes to diversity and equity: the university featured prominently in the “Varsity Blues” scandal, in which the wealthy cheated and bribed their children’s way into top schools. It has also moved too slowly to address white supremacy. The new president, Carol Folt, has at last announced that the Von KleinSmid Center, named after the fifth president of USC, the notorious eugenicist and segregationist Rufus B. von KleinSmid, will be renamed, and the accompanying bust of KleinSmid removed. Weirdly, KleinSmid’s papers seem to have also gone missing —  founding director of the Shoah Foundation at USC Wolf Gruner hoped to teach a unit on the eugenicist’s ideas, but says he “ran into walls,” as if the university itself wishes to erase its ugly history.

Folt’s move is a huge step, but belated: students and faculty have for years clamored for the renaming of VKC, and their concerns were unheeded and the university dithered. In February of 2019, the provost followed Yale’s lead and formed the Provost’s Taskforce on USC Nomenclature, not necessarily to replace names and symbols, but to come up with a process and procedures for discussion and assessment. This is how bureaucracies feint, obfuscate, and delay the acknowledgment of the systemic racism so deeply embedded in this country and our institutions. Finally, in 2020, communities of color and youth agitators are taking the matter into their own hands and institutional and political leadership across the country (and world) is taking heed.

USC has been mired in scandals since 2017, and its failure to deal with white supremacy sits uneasily among them. They are all linked to a prioritizing of the USC “brand” over a sense of ethical purpose. Gross malfeasance by some deans, doctors, coaches, admissions officers, and faculty has been systematically swept under the carpet, and offenders have been paid off: faculty and students only hear about the scandals in the media. While USC is not alone in the shift of universities towards corporate funding models and an emphasis on branding, we have a unique range of overt visual symbology on campus that exposes the university’s links to dark ideologies, global nationalisms, and a culture of corruption that dogs many governments and campuses today. This culture, as Black Lives Matter activists and many critical race scholars (some at USC) have pointed out, is rooted in or supported by systems of white supremacy.

The white supremacist cultural symbols that map USC’s campus thus figure as visible symbols of this corruption. Statues, architecture, and language all support a USC brand that the upper administration and paid consultants seem to believe will “sell” the school. This branding exercise has eroded academic integrity and has compromised the commitments a major university should support: high level research, teaching, learning and the well-being of students, faculty, staff, and the surrounding community.

To return to Tommy Trojan and his horse: although Traveler became the mascot in 1961, when fan Nick Saukko donned a costume from Ben Hur and rode him in a Rose Bowl parade, the Traveler statue was installed quite recently, in 2010. As the Los Angeles Times  and other papers have noted, whether or not Traveler was indeed named after Confederate Civil War general Robert E. Lee’s horse Traveller, the coincidence is more than unfortunate. USC students mounted a protest against the mascot in 2017 but were rebuffed. USC deflected and denied, remarking that “USC’s mascot horse is a symbol of ancient Troy. Its rider, with costume and sword is a symbol of a Trojan warrior.”

The glaringly shining and white Traveler monument is, however , a perfect example of what we mean by a Trojan horse: a means by which white supremacy and imperialism are snuck invisibly into USC.  

USC’s identification with the Trojans long predates the tenure of former president C. L. Max Nikias (forced to resign for his mishandling of a campus sexual abuse in 2018), but Nikias heavily promoted the connection between USC and a brand based on a classical (white) cultural heritage. With his Greek roots and love of classical scholarship, Nikias even launched his presidency with a speech titled “The Future Reign of Troy.” Nikias took his inspiration from the Aeneid , which Daniel Mendelsohn, in a 2018 New Yorker article, notes has been “arguably the single most influential work of European Civilization for the better better of two millenia.” The Aeneid tells the story of Aeneas, who from the ashes of devastated Troy built a new civilization, which became the Roman Empire. To say that Nikias, for all his vaunted love of the classics, was far behind the times in lauding Aeneas’s (mythic) achievement would be an understatement. As Mendelsohn goes on to note:

If readers of an earlier era saw the Aeneid as an inspiring advertisement for the onward march of Rome’s many descendants, from the Holy Roman Empire to the British one, scholars now see in it a tale of nationalistic arrogance whose plot is an all too familiar handbook for repressive violence: once Aeneas and his fellow-Trojans arrive on the coast of Italy, they find that they must fight a series of wars with an indigenous population that, eventually, they brutally subjugate.

Indeed, “repressive violence” is at the heart of the University’s mythic version of itself, as revealed in its nomenclature, architecture, and statuary and is, of course, the source of the ongoing protests against the oppression of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color).

Acting on his ambitions to expand USC’s empire, Nikias raised the funds to build University Village in the midst of USC’s economically impoverished neighborhood. In the process, large numbers of homes and businesses were destroyed. At the entrance to this anachronistically neo-Gothic development, Nikias placed a statue of Hecuba, ahistorically designated as “Tommy Trojan’s female companion.” At the foot of this imposing monument of a white woman (Hecuba) are smaller carvings of women representing “the six ethnicities,” which in fact refer mostly to racial categories — “African,” “Asian,” “Native American,” etcetera. The twenty-first century statue and its carvings mark not the future heralded by the disgraced Nikias but a regression to the past, recalling President KleinSmid’s contribution to eugenics and to his promotion of “scientific” racism.

As much as we love the great things about our campus and are tempted to end by calling for a positive attitude (“fight on!” — so fun to say!), we would rather issue a call, in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and other activist groups, to transform the entire ideological ethos of the campus. USC has increasingly become an out-of-step institution, with a crafted symbolism of cultural signifiers that promote racist cultural nostalgia. While we realize that it is unlikely USC will throw out these monuments, we call on USC to put such branding efforts behind it and to critically resist the nostalgia for its white origin story. Beyond USC, we applaud any and all efforts both on the streets and on our campuses to debate, research, specify, and, if harm is being caused, remove symbols that oppress and violate others.

We offer these examples from our own institution as illustrations of how “nomenclature” and symbology reveal the deep embeddedness of institutions of higher learning in histories of white supremacy. We hope that this analysis will serve as encouragement to other institutions to engage in similar work, and to delve deeply into their own specific dark histories. Cultural symbols have a profound effect. Racist ones inflict on a daily basis psychic wounds that diminish the very goals for which universities claim to strive (open mindedness, learning in a safe environment, equity, freedom of expression, respect). It is these forms of oppression that are leading masses of people to reject everything they stand for, decapitating, defacing, and destroying statues around the world.

Amelia Jones is the Robert A. Day Professor, Roski School of Art & Design at USC.

Tania Modleski is the Florence R. Scott Professor Emerita of English at USC.

Amelia Jones

Robert A. Day Professor, Roski School of Art & Design at USC

Tania Modleski

Florence R. Scott Professor Emerita of English at USC

3 thoughts on “ Trojan Horse ”

In his book The Red Trojan Horse: A Concise Analysis of Cultural Marxism, author Alasdair Elder explains that groups like Black Lives Matter and the 1619 Project are only nominally about reducing racism and saving lives and are in fact “Trojan Horses” for the Frankfurt School of Marxist Critical Theory, otherwise known as Cultural Marxism.

Now that I’ve read a description of this book (which sounds reactionary, but I’d have to read it to know for sure how to respond), I’d say it certainly looks like the book egregiously fails to acknowledge the extent to which what we call the Enlightenment was shaped by contact with colonized and enslaved people. To claim the Enlightenment as somehow superior fundamentally misreads early modern history. Building an argument on that misunderstanding is not convincing. And it is structurally white supremacist and racist. I would rapidly and completely distance myself from that kind of argument.

Very interesting–thanks for that reference, and sorry it took me so long to see it!

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