Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Troy still stood behind walls the Achaeans could not storm. Odysseus (with Athena’s counsel) devised the wooden horse. Epeius built it—a hollow offering large enough to hold the best fighters. Chosen heroes climbed inside; the rest of the army burned the camp, launched as if for home, and waited offshore at Tenedos. On the beach they left the horse and (in the full tradition) a single “deserter” to sell the lie that it was an offering to Athena which must be brought inside the city lest the Greeks return with divine favor. The Trojans debated: destroy it, or haul it in as a trophy and propitiatory gift. Cassandra and (in Roman transmission) Laocoön warned in vain. The horse entered through a breached gate or widened wall. At night the fleet silently returned; the men in the horse opened the city to them. Homer’s Demodocus and Menelaus already treat the horse as the decisive ruse—Odysseus restraining the hidden warriors when Helen paced outside imitating their wives’ voices. This entry covers design, building, concealment, and the Trojan decision to bring the horse in; Sinon’s speech and the Laocoön omen are detailed separately.