THE TROJAN HORSE. BtVS Intertext/Allusion.
The
Trojan Horse was an instrument of war, used by the Greeks to gain access to the
city of Troy.
The legend of the Trojan War is based partly on fact and partly on myth. The events unfolded with Aphrodite (Greek goddess of love) promising Paris, son of Priam (who was King of Troy), the most beautiful woman in the world. This woman was said to be Helen, the half-mortal daughter of Zeus and Leda, who was married to Menelaus, King of Sparta. Paris travelled to Sparta, and while Menelaus was away, took Helen and much of the city’s treasure back to Troy.
Menelaus was enraged, and assembled an army of a thousand ships (thus Helen is known as “the face that launched a thousand ships”) to invade Troy. The siege lasted about ten years.
In the last year of the war, the Greeks devised a plan of building a large wooden horse and filling it with soldiers, leaving it in front of Troy’s city gates. The Greek army withdrew, feigning defeat, while the Greek soldier, Sinon, pretending to be a deserter, stayed behind. Sinon told the Trojans that the horse was an offering from the Greeks to Athena (goddess of war), and it was built so large so that the Trojans could not get it into their city. The Trojan priest Laocoön, fearing trickery, warned the Trojans not to believe Sinon, stating “I fear the Greeks even when they bear gifts”. King Priam’s daughter, Cassandra, who was blessed with the gift of prophecy, also warned that the wooden horse was dangerous.
The Trojans insisted on bringing the horse into their city, tore down part of a wall, and dragged it inside. The whole city celebrated their victory. At night, when the Trojans were asleep, Sinon let the Greek soldiers out of the horse, opened the gates, and signaled the main army of Greeks, who were lying in wait. The city was completely destroyed. King Priam was slaughtered, the women were taken prisoner, and Helen was returned to Menelaus.
In Season Four, in the episode “Primeval,” the Scooby Gang attempts to determine Adam’s plan of attack:
Buffy: You know how overcrowded the containment cells have been at the Initiative? Those demons were just too easy to catch. It’s like they wanted in that place.
Giles: The Trojan Horse.
Buffy: Adam’s gonna make sure the demons attack the Initiative from the inside.
Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, which provides the most famous telling of the last year of the Trojan War, can be found at The Internet Classics Archive: http://www.classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html
Image from http://www.wildland.com/photogallery/turkey/turk_photo3.asp