King of Troy
King of Troy
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Character Information
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The King of Troy was the ruler of the city of Troy. He was defeated, and the city's entire population killed, by Odysseus and the Greek army.
History
After the Trojan War had been going on for ten years with the city continuously under siege, Odysseus devised a plan to end the siege and win the war. With a large wooden statue of a horse in tow, he knocked on the city gates. When the King of Troy answered, Odysseus said he thought he could speak for all the Greeks when he said the war had gone on for too long. The King of Troy agreed, replying, "I'll say! I'd really like to go out and get the mail", and gesturing at on overflowing mailbox.
Odysseus continued, "Over torture, one of your soldiers mentioned that you collect giant wooden animals. We hope you don't have a horse!" He then gestured behind him at the horse he had brought. The King of Troy glanced at the collection in his castle's courtyard, which already had a couple of horses, and affably said, "Well, I don't have one from you. Bring it in!" At this command, the Trojan soldiers opened the gates and pulled the horse into the city. That night, while everyone was sleeping, the Greek soldiers came out from inside the horse (where they had been hiding) and killed everyone in the city of Troy. The next morning, Odysseus altered the "City of Troy" sign outside the gates, changing the population figure from 12,801 to zero.
Behind the Laughter
- The King of Troy appears in the "D'oh, Brother Where Art Thou?" segment of "Tales from the Public Domain". The segment is a re-telling of the Odyssey with Ned Flanders cast as the King of Troy, Homer Simpson as Odysseus and other Springfieldians as the other characters in the story.
- In the Odyssey, the soldiers hidden inside the Trojan Horse didn't emerge from the horse and immediately start killing people, but snuck back to the city gates and opened them to let in the rest of the Greek army. After that, the population was slaughtered.
