Helen had been kidnapped by the Trojan prince Paris, who was a guest at Menelaus's wedding. Assembling the largest army ever seen, the Greeks attacked Troy. The Trojan defenders, led by the great warrior Hector, kept the invaders outside the walls of Troy for ten long years. The Trojan defense was aided by bickering among the opposing Greeks. In spite of their internal problems, the Greeks did not relent in their assault. Unable to pierce Troy's defenses, the frustrated Greek army finally decided to use guile instead of brute force to infiltrate the city's defensive walls.
They constructed a massive wooden horse and wheeled it up to the gates of Troy. At the same time, the entire Greek fleet cast off, apparently to return to their homeland. The people of Troy believed that they had finally won. The jubilant Trojans assumed the horse was an offering to the goddess Minerva to atone for the Greeks' desecration of her temple in their raids. They opened the gates and took the horse inside the city walls. But hidden in the wooden belly were fifty of the Greeks' best fighters.
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