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Are you familiar with the story of
the Trojan horse? Many people use the term as a way to
describe a gift that looks good but has evil intent. Although this
is a very popular term in our day, many people do not realize that
it actually has its roots in ancient Greek mythology and religious
teachings. The city of Troy itself is believed to have actually
existed. Archaeologists have uncovered several cities existing one
on top of the other in the area where the city of Troy was reported
to have stood. The Trojan horse, however, is not believed to have
been a true story. Imagine, however, if it were really true. What
would it have been like to be living in the city of Troy at that
time?
According to the legend, the city was under siege by the Greek army for 10 years. This is an
exceptionally long period of time for any city to be under siege and
cut off from the rest of the world. Troy must
have been rather self-sufficient as it did not seem as though there
was going to be any end to the siege. Living in a city under siege
was very difficult. Not only were you cut off from getting any
supplies into the city, such as food and clothing, many times the
army that had besieged the city would do terrible things to the
inhabitants.
Cities, during the time of the city
of Troy, were surrounded by walls that made them secure and somewhat
impregnable. Because they did not have the weapons of modern-day
warfare it was difficult to just go up against a city and capture
it. Some of the things that they would do in order to break the
city down was to besiege at and starve it. They could also launch
diseased, dead bodies into the city in order to spread disease among
its inhabitants. It was a very brutal time to be under siege. The
Greek army, however, came up with an interesting plan.
The Greek army, after they saw that
the siege was not working, built a huge wooden horse that was hollow
on the inside. They offered this horse to the city of Troy as a
supposed peace offering but they hid Greek troops on the inside.
After the apparent gift was accepted into the city and it's
inhabitants began to celebrate, the Warriors came out of the horse
and opened the city gates. This allowed the troops that were hidden
on the outside to enter into the city and conquer it.
So the next time that somebody calls
something a Trojan horse you will understand better where the term
came from and what they are referring to. The term basically
means that something that was given to them that looks good actually
has an evil intent behind it.
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