As someone has already pointed out, "horse-taming" is a Homeric epithet for the Trojans, and in reality the plains of Asia Minor were a great place for raising horses. Use of horses was probably the key factor enabling expansion of the proto-Indo-Europeans thousands of years ago; in bygone times generally, horses and ships were the two things necessary for military aggression and conquest. This doesn't always have to mean chariot warfare as in Homer, nor does it have to mean the charges of knights on horseback that we see in the high middle ages, but even when infantry is tactically very important (as in the Roman Empire), horses are crucial for transport, etc. Horses = tactical advantage = victory; that is the symbolism, I think, especially for a land-based power like the Trojans (as opposed to the seafaring Achaeans). The wooden horse seemed to be a concession by the Achaeans that the power of the horse-taming Trojans had won out. Very subtle and clever! Randi Eldevik Oklahoma State University
On Sat, 3 Apr 1999, Catherine H Tate wrote: > Fellow subscribers, > I asked my professor the other week why did the Greeks build a huge > horse; > why not a huge statue of Niki or some other figure? He researched and came > up with that this was a good figure for a seige engine. I still want to > know if their is some significance in a horse,like the sign given by Juno > that a spirited head of a horse would mark the foundation for Carthage. Is > there a reason to be found as to why the "Trojan Horse"? Why not another > image? Somewhere there must be a little something that explains why a > horse? Did the Trojans rever horses? > Curious and must be more than a good model for a seige > engine, > > > Kimber > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. > Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message > "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You > can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
