The Real Story of Troy

That is so, but my understanding was that those later stories tie back to a lost epic (Iliupersis) that, while not officially attributed to Homer, was being sung contemporaneously with the other stories of the Trojan war cycle.

The show is based on a story by qntm [0] (which I submitted before to HN but sadly got no traction) who also wrote a great book recently called There Is No Antimemetics Division, to rave reviews on HN.

[0] https://qntm.org/responsibilit

Thpoilerth!

I’ve seen it fairly convincingly argued that he wasn’t!

Virgil's version with Laocoön correctly guessing the plot and then being slain by Poseidon always felt to me like a later addition explicitly designed to explain "The Trojans weren't really that stupid, were they?" There's a similar undercurrent if you read Hesiod's Theogony, where Prometheus' famous "Trick at Mecone" is written as though Zeus knew it was a trick but chose the pile of bones anyway. It's as though the original story had Zeus being tricked in earnest, but later writers grew uncomfortable with the idea that their high god was so easily fooled.

With that said, it always in turn felt like the serpents' presence undermined Odysseus' claim of being clever, since from that perspective the Trojans didn't have much choice but to bring it in, or risk the ire of the gods. It's hardly a ruse if the enemy knows it's a trap but is compelled by supernatural forces to take it anyway.