Idiom Series: Mythology and History- Trojan Horse

Welcome to the Idiom Series: Mythology and History!

Today, the idiom is ''Trojan Horse''.  Let's look at the full meaning of this idiom:

The Trojan horse comes from classical Greek mythology, and is referred to in several works, such as The Aeneid, by Virgil, and Homer's Odyssey.  It describes a battle strategy used by the Greek army against Troy.  The Greek army built a wooden horse and filled it with their best soldiers.  The rest of the army sailed away, and the Trojans brought the horse into their city as a war trophy.  That night, the Greeks came out of the horse while the Trojans were sleeping and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back to the beach in the dark.  The Greeks destroyed the city of Troy this way.

We use the term today to describe any trick or strategy that is intended to cause a target to allow an enemy into a protected space.

The term is often used to describe a certain type of computer virus that is often downloaded by the user under the belief that it is a legitimate program.

Ray Robinson turned out to be a trojan horse-- he won the election as a Republican, only to change his alliance to the Democrats after winning.

In this sentence, it is understood that Ray Robinson deceived the Republicans, and used them in order to ultimately benefit the Democratic party.

Can you think of a clever way to use this new idiom?  Leave it in the comments below, and tell me in our next class!