Sinon
（
Σίνον). A Greek, who accompanied his countrymen to the
Trojan War. When the Greeks had fabricated the famous wooden horse, Sinon went to Troy, at the
instigation of Odysseus, with his hands bound behind his back, and by the most solemn
protestations assured Priam that the Greeks were gone from Asia, and that they had been
ordered to sacrifice one of their soldiers to render the wind favourable to their return; and
that, because the lot had fallen upon him, he had fled away from their camp, not to be cruelly
sacrificed. These false assertions were immediately credited by the Trojans, and Sinon advised
Priam to bring into his city the wooden horse which the Greeks had left behind them, and to
consecrate it to Athené. His advice was followed, and Sinon, in the night, to
complete his perfidy, opened the side of the horse, from which issued a
number of armed Greeks, who surprised the Trojans and pillaged their city (
Homer Od. viii. 492;
Verg.
Aen. ii. 79, etc.; Pausan. x. 20). See
Trojan War.
