Trojan horse: the meaning of the idiom. The myth of the Trojan horse

Idioms play an important role in modern language, because they allow to convey the meaning of a sentence more vivid metaphorical language. For example, many have heard the phrase like a Trojan horse. The meaning of the idiom can be confusing because its meaning origins lie in myth.

Historical roots of the current language

As you know, most of the aphorisms has historical roots. Something to do with mythology, something with history, but in any case to know their roots and the roots of their language is necessary. This allows you to see a modern language through the past, whereby there is enrichment. So, the expression “Trojan horse” come to us back to the age of the Trojan war.

Troya: causes strife between the Trojans and the Greeks

Trojan Horse Is full of mysteries, and to understand it, you need to talk a little bit about the city of Troy. A folk tale says that a future war over the city broke out of the conflict between Paris and Menelaus because of beautiful Helen, who was the wife of the latter. According to the legend Paris beguiled her, and she decided to leave with him. This act of Menelaus was viewed as kidnapping and decided that this is a sufficient reason for declaring war. However, Troy was well and securely fastened, so to capture the city to the Greeks for a long time without success. They, however, were limited to those that devastated the area and have made trips to nearby cities. According to legend, the Greeks wanted to capture Troy, but the physical forces could not handle. Then Odysseus comes up with an interesting idea: he suggested to build a huge wooden horse.

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The Cunning of Odysseus

The Legend tells that the Trojans, with the surprise of seeing how the Greeks built a wooden horse. The Greeks also wrote the story that if they created a Trojan horse to protect the city from the Greek raids. That is why today the phrase “Trojan horse" means a gift, a gift that was presented to defraud. But the Trojans believed this story and even wanted to enter the horse into the city. But there were opponents of this decision who are called to leave the design in the water or burn it. Soon, however, appeared in the priest, who said that the Greeks made the horse in honor of the goddess Athena, to atone for the sin of years of bloodshed. Supposedly after that, out of the sea crawled two serpents, which strangled the priest and his sons. The Trojans thought that all these events were omens again, and decided to roll the horse into the city.

The Beginning of the fall of Troy

According to archaeological and historical evidence still actually there was a Trojan horse. The meaning of the idiom, however, is not to understand, if not ponder the essence of the legend. So, the horse brought into the city. And the night after that hasty decisions Sinon released from the cavity of the horse hidden warriors, who quickly killed the sleeping guards and opened the city's gates. People who slept soundly after the festivities, even no resistance. Several Trojans broke into the Palace to save the king. But the giant Neoptolemus still managed to break the front door with an axe and killed king Priam. Thus ended the great story of great Troy.

Still has not defined how many soldiers were in the Trojan horse. Some sources say that there was hiding of 50 people, in others it is about 20-23 soldiers. But the essence remains the same: sophisticated design in the form of the horse simply did not cause any doubt among the Trojans, and that was the cause of their death. It is now accepted that the myth of the Trojan horse-an allegory of stratagem that was used by the Achaeans.

Symbols and allegory

It is Remarkable, but the horse-like creature from ancient times is a symbol of birth and death. So, the Achaeans created a horse of fir branches, while the cavity design remained empty. Many researchers agree that it is a symbol of the birth of the new. That is, it turned out that the Trojan horse brought death to the defenders of the city and at the same time became a symbol of the birth of something new for many people.

By the Way, at about the same time in the Mediterranean events are very important to history. The great migration, when from the Nordic countries to the Balkans moved various tribes-the Dorians, barbarians. This is what led to the destruction of the ancient Mycenaean civilization. Greece can be reborn, centuries later, with the destruction that occurred in this state, be so great that all zagoriska story just stayed in legends.

What does a Trojan horse?

Today, quite often, we use this idiom as a "Trojan horse". This popular expression has already become a household name. So we called some gifts that are presented with the purpose to deceive or to destroy. Many researchers have wondered about why that horse was the cause of the crash of Troy. But to mention one thing: the Achaeans knew how to motivate the Trojans. Theyunderstand that the lifting of the siege on the city you need to surprise the locals with something special that they trusted and opened the gate.

Of Course, presenting the Trojan horse as a gift of the gods played a crucial role, because in those days neglected the sacred gift was considered an insult to the deity. As you know, joke with gods very angry and very dangerous. And so it happened that good inscription on a wooden statue (we will remind, on the side of the horse was written that it is a gift of the goddess Athena) led the Trojans had to take this dubious gift to the city.

Treasure of Troy

So, the Trojan horse (the meaning of the idiom we have already described) became the main cause of the destruction of the Trojan Kingdom. We know from history that Troy was famous for its horses, this town attracts traders from all over the world to this city often made raids. For example, one legend says that the Trojan king Dardanus owned a herd of magnificent horses, which are descended from the God of the North wind Boreas. Anyway, the horse is always considered the closest to human an animal: take it to war, it was used in agricultural works. Therefore, the appearance before the city gates of Troy that horses the locals and could not be assessed as a gift of the gods. Thus, not knowing who the Trojan horse, the meaning of the idiom to understand is not so easy.

And so it is no accident that Troy, which kept the defense for 10 years, Pala is the fault of the horse. Of course, blame the cunning of the Achaeans, who were able to find a weak spot and chose a kind of magic carrier in the face of the wooden horse. It is noteworthy that according to the archaeological Troy was only a small fortress. But in order to capture her went the entire army of hundreds of ships.

Modern treatment

Today, this concept is figuratively referred to malware, spread the people themselves. And the name of the virus is named after the mythological Trojan horse, as most virus programs act the same way: they disguise themselves as harmless and even useful programs and applications that the user runs on their computer. Despite the simplicity of the virus, its difficulty lies in the fact that it is difficult to recognize it as his destiny. For example, the most primitive modification can erase all contents of disk at boot and some programs are able to fit into certain applications on a PC.