Wooden Horse of Troy

Virgil tells us that Ulysses had a monster wooden horse made after the death of Hector, and gave out that it was an offering to the gods to secure a prosperous voyage back to Greece. The Trojans dragged the horse within their city, but it was full of Grecian soldiers, who at night stole out of their place of concealment, slew the Trojan guards, opened the city gates, and set fire to Troy. Menelāos was one of the Greeks shut up in it. It was made by Epeios (Latin, Epēus).

Cambuscan’s wooden horse. The Arabian Nights tells us of Cambuscan’s horse of brass, which had a pin in the neck, and on turning this pin the horse rose into the air, and transported the rider to the place he wanted to go to. (See Clavileno.)

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.