Sinon

• son of Aesimus, through whose perfidy the Trojans were induced to take the wooden horse within their city, Verg. A. 2, 79 sq.; Hyg. Fab. 108; Dict. Cret. 5, 12; Plin. 7, 56, 57, § 202.

(Σίνων), a son of Aesimus, or according to Virgil (Aen. 2.79) of Sisyphus, and a grandson of Autolycus, was a relation of Odysseus, and is described in later poems as having accompanied his kinsman to Troy (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 344; Heyne, Excurs. iv. ad Virg. Aen. ii.). According to these traditions, he allowed himself to be taken prisoner by the Trojans, after he had mutilated himself in such a manner as to make them believe that he had been ill-treated by the Greeks. He told the Trojans that he was hated by Odysseus, and had been selected by him to be sacrificed, because Apollo had ordered a human sacrifice to be offered, that the Greeks might safely depart from the coast of Troy, and added that he had escaped death by flight. When he was asked what was the purport of the wooden horse, he told them that it had been constructed as an atonemnt for the Palladium which had been carried off, and that if the Trojans ventured to destroy it, their kingdom should fall, but that if they would draw it with their own hands into their own city, Asia would gain the supremacy over Greece (Verg. A. 2.57, &c.; Tzetz. Posthom. 680, &c.). The Trojans took his advice, and when the horse was drawn into the city, he gave the preconcerted signal, opened the door of the horse, and the Greeks rushing out took possession of Troy (Verg. A. 2.259; Dict. Cret. 5.12; Hygin. Fab. 108). Quintus Smyrnaeus and Tryphiodorus have somewhat modified this tradition, respecting which see Heyne, l.c. In the Lesche at Delphi he was represented as a companion of Odysseus. (Paus. 10.27.) [L.S]

(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.

• Paus. 10.27.3
• lights the beacon to guide the Greeks to Troy: Apollod. E.5.15, Apollod. E.5.19