In the Trojan War legend, the Greeks used the Trojan Horse to enter Troy. The Greeks built the huge wooden horse, hid soldiers inside it, and left it outside the city as part of a deception.
According to the tradition told in later ancient sources, the Trojans believed the Greek army had abandoned the war and accepted the horse within their walls. During the night, the concealed Greek warriors emerged and opened Troy’s gates to the returning army. This allowed the Greeks to capture and destroy the city.
Homer’s Iliad does not narrate the complete horse episode. The story appears in later parts of the Trojan War tradition, including Virgil’s Aeneid and summaries of the lost epic poem the Little Iliad. The horse is therefore most closely associated with the war’s legendary final victory, rather than with the main events described in Homer’s Iliad.
The phrase “Trojan horse” later became a general term for a deceptive gift or hidden threat. In computing, a Trojan horse is malicious software disguised as a legitimate program.