Language & Mythology: The Trojan Horse

- The Story Behind the Horse

A Trojan horse is someone or something that is accepted because it seems good or hamrless, but that is really intended to cause harm:
Senator Simon claimed the new law would reduce violence on TV, but opponents have attacked it as being a “Trojan horse” that would lead to censorship of TV programming.
The term comes from Greek mythology: the Trojan horse was a wooden horse used by Greek soldiers to trick their enemies the Trojans during the Trojan War. The Greeks hid inside a large wooden model of a horse and were taken into Troy by Trojan soldiers, who thought that it was a gift.

- The Woman Behind The War

Helen of Troy was the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda who was abducted by Paris; the Greek army sailed to Troy to get her back which resulted in the Trojan War
The Trojan War is a war which is said to have been fought between the Greeks and Trojans because the Trojan prince Paris had carried off Helen, wife of Menelaus, a Greek king. The war was won by a trick in which Greek soldiers hid inside the Trojan horse. Homer describes the Trojan War in his book The Iliad.