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CHAPTER 1  THE FIRST SPIES

20

ESPIONAGE IN

ANCIENT GREECE

“DO NOT TRUST THE HORSE,

TROJANS. WHATEVER IT IS,

I FEAR THE GREEKS EVEN

WHEN THEY BRING GIFTS.”

From Virgil’s

Aeneid

, a warning

the Trojans failed to heed

When planning major enterprises, the Ancient

Greeks looked first to the gods for help. Oracles

were consulted and animal entrails examined by

seers to discover whether fate was for or against

them. But the Greeks also valued the more basic

information provided by their spies, and they took

special pride in their skills in the art of deception.

The most famous of these ploys was the legendary

Trojan Horse.

GIFT HORSE

According to Homer’s The Odyssey, Greek warrior Odysseus

was determined to break the Greeks’ ten-year siege of the

city of Troy. His stratagem involved the construction of an

enormous, hollow wooden horse, which was left in front of

the Trojan city gates at night. The Trojans awoke to discover

that the Greeks had disappeared, leaving just the horse.

They dragged the horse inside the walls and joyfully

celebrated their triumph.

During the next night, Odysseus and a band of Greek

soldiers emerged from the horse, killed the sentries, and

opened the gates. The main Greek army, which had silently

returned under the cover of darkness, rushed into the open

city and conquered Troy.

Right: The modern myth

of the Trojan Horse is taken

mostly from the retelling

of the story by Roman poet

Virgil (70–19

bce), pictured

here in a mosaic from the

third century

ce.