One of Paris' brother was Antenor. Antenor sought advice from a prophet of Apollo. The prophet told Antenor that the heavens had three conditions which had to be fulfilled for Troy to fall. Firstly, Pelop's ivory shoulder-bone had to be taken from Pisa. Secondly, Achilles' son had to arrive in Troy to avenge his father's death. Lastly, the Palladion had to be stolen from Troy. The Palladion was the statue that had fallen into the city the night it was founded, and as long as the statue was in Troy, Troy would never fall.

The Greeks found out about this, and they quickly set out to completing the tasks. The first two were relatively simple, but when it came to the stealing of the Palladion, they faced much frustration. The statue was locked in a citadel in the centre of the city, and was guarded by soldiers and shamans well versed in the way of defensive magics. After much futile planning, help came in the form of Antenor, who offered to help them steal the Palladion. Antenor guided them into the city, and bribed the shamans to giving the Palladion to Odysseus and Diomedes when they came for it. So with the three conditions fulfilled, the fall of Troy loomed just over the horizon.

At the end, Odysseus came up with the idea of building a hollow wooden horse to get into Troy. The Greeks hurried to construct a large hollow wooden horse, with a trapdoor concealed so well that only the carpenters knew how it opened. Twenty-four heroes were chosen to hide in the horse, while the rest of the Greeks got onto their ships and sailed away. Before that however, they had piled everything: weapons, tents, food and more, and burned it in one smouldering pile. The Greek ships sailed to a nearby island and moored the ships there, out of sight from the city.

The next morning when the sun lit the sky, the Trojans wandered out of the city in curiosity. They knew not what had driven the Greeks from their city, but what bewildered them more was the large wooden horse that stood outside the city. On the side of the horse was the word 'Offered to Athene, to grant the Greeks safe voyage home'. That was all there was left. There were no Greeks, only the debris which they had left behind, and the horse.

The Trojans were split over what to do with the horse. Some thought the horse sacred to Poseidon, and that they should burn it by the sea to sacrifice it to him. Others thought that the horse should be moved into the city itself where there was a large temple to Athene, since the horse, after all, was for Athene. The prophet Laokoon warned King Priam against moving the horse into the city, for he knew the Greeks had an ulterior motive, unknown to him. Laokoon threw a spear at the horse, and the spear jabbed into the wood noisily, followed by the faint clanging of weapons from within. Priam was unconvinced and decided to move the horse into the city.

Laokoon was not about to give up. He set up an altar by the sea, hoping to pray to Poseidon to know the true intent of the Greeks. Unfortunately, before he was able to carry out the ritual, sea snakes snatched Laokoon off the shore, leaving behind a bloody trail towards the sea. When the Trojans saw this, they thought Poiseidon was angry, and changed their mind to sacrificing the wooden horse to the sea. Just as the command was going to be given to drag the horse away, along came a Greek soldier. Like an actor on stage he had waited patiently for the right moment to deliver his act.

The soldier's name was Sinon, and he begged Priam to spare him. The Greeks had wanted to leave the city for a long time, but were unable to, due to unfavourable winds. Now that the winds had changed, they had left, leaving him behind. Priam was taken in, and he inquired after the purpose of the horse. In a tone of total disdain for the Greeks, he told Priam that the horse was to pacify Athene for stealing the Palladion. The horse was made so large, the Trojans would not be able to pull it into their city. If they did, and dragged the horse into Athene's temple, then the whole Greek fleet would sink beneath the waves.

Just as the Greeks had imagined, Priam was elated and immediately ordered a section of the city walls to be knocked down so that the horse could enter the city, for it was too high for the gates. They had forgotten all about Laokoon's warning, and the rattling within the horse.

That night was of celebration like no other since the war had started ten years ago. Drunk on wine and silly with relief, the Trojans slept soundly that night, as the trapdoor of the horse opened. Out streamed the Greeks who had hidden inside. They lit a beacon by the beach, which signalled to the fleets waiting at the nearby island, to come. The Greeks were merciless. They pillaged and killed the people of Troy, who awoke in shock to see Greeks throughout their city. Slowly, the people of Troy were rounded up, and the loot was brought back to Greece.

The war that was started ten years before by Helen had finally ended with Troy broken. Troy, which had taken many generations to build, and had been at war for ten years, was finally felled overnight. The walls of the city that had been built by the gods had crumbled, and all that the Greeks left behind was Antenor, to rule a small number of peasants who were spared by the Greeks.

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