The so-called catchphrases are often found in fiction, we hear them in the conversations and reasonings of different people, but we do not always guess these expressions, not to mention the history of their origin. In this article we will try to find out what it means “be afraid of the Danes who bring gifts” and where this intricate phraseological unit came from.

Even from the school bench, we begin to get acquainted with the legends and myths of the peoples of the world. The characters in these stories help children get a general idea of ​​good and evil, the complexity of choice and the need to make important life decisions. They can act as a role model or show how not to act in order to avoid serious consequences.

A lot of interesting and deep in meaning phraseological units came to us from the myths of Ancient Greece. Surely each of us has at least heard about the history of the fall of the ancient city of Troy, reflected in the work of Homer's "Iliad", and, of course, in the work of Virgil's "Aeneid", to which we, in fact, owe the proverb about the gifts of the Danaans.

The Danaans were the ancient Greeks who, according to legend, waged a long, exhausting war with the Trojans. The Greeks unsuccessfully tried to overthrow Troy, besieging the walls of the city for a long ten years. However, all attempts were in vain. Then the cunning and enterprising leader of the Danaans, Odysseus, came up with the idea of ​​​​how to deceitfully defeat the stubborn Trojans. The Hellenes built a huge wooden horse, in which there was a place for the most courageous warriors, and pretended that they were stopping the siege, leaving only a generous offering for the goddess Athena on the shore.

Happy that the enemy had surrendered, the people of Troy decided to take possession of the gigantic horse and put it in the center of the city as a trophy. Seeing the madness of his people, one of the priests named Laocoont exclaimed: “Whatever it is, beware of the Danaans, even those who bring gifts!” But neither he nor the prophetess Cassandra, who predicted troubles for the careless Trojans, was heard. On the night when Troy plunged into darkness, and its inhabitants were sound asleep, the Greek soldiers got out of the wooden horse, having dealt with the guards, opened the city gates and called in the army that had returned by that time. And so the great Troy fell victim to gullibility and recklessness.

The modern meaning of phraseology

For modern society, the popular expression “beware of the Danes who bring gifts” is no less significant and relevant, because every day we somehow encounter human vices and evil intentions. Based on the ancient meaning, this phraseological unit has the following meanings for us, the inhabitants of the 21st century:

• describes cases where a gift or good deed hides a person's true evil intentions;
• acts as a symbol of deceit, ingenuity and cunning aimed at causing harm or obtaining benefits by fraudulent means;
• can characterize a person prone to flattery, hypocrisy and lies.

These words are a kind of call for caution, vigilance and foresight, like the legend of the fall of the legendary city of Troy itself. The story of the Danaan gifts, of course, does not encourage us to become paranoid and check everyone and everything for the presence of ins and outs, however, it gives us reason to think that not all virtue can be caused. Sometimes gifts and favors oblige us to make decisions or actions from which we incur enormous loss or loss.

Where did the expression "Fear the Danaans who bring gifts?" Who are the Danaans?

1. The expression is used in the meaning: insidious gifts that bring death to those who receive them. Originated from Greek legends about the Trojan War. (gift in this case, a huge wooden horse). From the history.
2. Danaans (#916;#945;#957;#945;#959;#943;, Danai) in ancient Greek mythology (in particular, Homer) is the ancient name of the Greeks (along with the Argives and Achaeans), with which such mythical characters are associated like Danae, Danae and the Danaids. First of all, it is used in relation to the inhabitants of Argolis, but it can mean any Greek, especially from the Peloponnese.

   This ethnonym is mentioned in Egyptian inscriptions from ser. 15th c. BC e. The inscription of Amenhotep III from Kom-el-Getan mentions tnjw (Danai) and their cities: mukanu (Mycenae), deqajis (Thegwais-Thebes, according to another reading of Tegeus), misane (Messene), nuplija (Nafplio), kutira (Kythera) , waleja / weleja (Elea, i.e. Pis), amukla (Amikla). In the inscriptions of the 8th year of Ramesses III, among those who attacked Egypt, the Peleset, Teker, Shakalusha, Danuna (that is, the Danaans) and Washasha (w#353;#353;w) are mentioned. According to Y. Yadin's hypothesis, the name of the Danaans is compared with the name of the Jewish tribe Dan. An animal of the Dan tribe is called a horned serpent, which has parallels in Greek mythology.

   In a later era, Virgil's expression from the Aeneid became famous. Fear the Danaans who bring gifts, Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes! (Whatever it is, I'm afraid of the Danes, even when they bring gifts)

3. For more than 10 years, the Greeks unsuccessfully besieged Troy, almost losing hope of success. Then, at the suggestion of Odysseus, the Achaeans decided to take the city by cunning. A huge wooden horse was built, inside which a select detachment of warriors hid. The rest of the army, in order to convince the Trojans that the Achaeans are going home, burns their camp and sails on ships from the coast of Troad. In fact, the Achaean ships took refuge not far from the coast, near the island of Tenedos. Surprised by the abandoned wooden monster, the Trojans gathered around him. Some began to offer to bring the horse into the city. Priest Laocoön, warning about the deceit of the enemy, exclaimed: Beware of the Danaans (Greeks), who bring gifts! (This phrase eventually became winged.) But the speech of the priest did not convince his compatriots, and they brought a wooden horse into the city as a gift to the goddess Athena. At night, the warriors hidden in the belly of the horse come out and open the gate. The secretly returned Achaeans break into the city, and the beating of the inhabitants taken by surprise begins. Menelaus with a sword in his hands is looking for an unfaithful wife, but when he sees the beautiful Elena, he is unable to kill her. elsewhere (Ancient Rome). The women of Troy faced a no less sad fate: they all became captives and slaves of the victors. The city perished in a fire. Danaans, Greek tribes that inhabited Argolis. According to Homer, the Danaans are participants in the Trojan War, who by cunning (with the help of a wooden Trojan horse) took Troy; hence the expression "gifts of the Danaans" - gifts that are disastrous for the recipient.
4. free cheese in a mousetrap,
5. Well, they didn’t watch Troy, if you’re too lazy to read))
6. The sage of the city of Troy said this when the horse was brought in. Danaans - Greeks
7. The expression of the priest Laocoon, who warned the inhabitants of the city of Troy not to accept any gifts from those with whom the war was fought. Danaans and Achaeans are the first Greek population of Greece.
8. These are the ones who gave the horse to the Trojans. Details at Comrade. Homer.
9. they presented the horse, and the army sat in it, which at night got out of this wooden horse and defeated everyone!
10. Danaans, they are Danai, one of the tribes inhabiting the lands of ancient Greece,
    originally the name of the inhabitants of Argos, and since Agamemnon, the king of Argos, stood at the head of the Greeks in the Trojan War, Homer calls all the Greeks by this name.
11. Trojan horse..
12. about the Trojan horse heard that the Greeks, but about Trojan viruses?
13. ... addition to other answers - Danae - a mythological person ("Myths of ancient Greece") was considered the progenitor of the Greek tribes (Zeus's mistress), Zeus's wife was punished to fill a bottomless vessel with water with a dish. In honor of her name, other Greeks - Danaans ...
14. those who plant trojans
15. from the bible... Trojan horse. if it’s just that they bring or give it suspiciously ... bribery ....
16. During the Trojan War, the Danaans besieged Troy, but could not take the city. Then they pretended to retreat and left only a wooden horse in which their best warriors hid. Although Cassandra warned the Trojans not to bring the horse outside the walls of the city, the Trojans did not listen to her. And the horses sitting inside at night opened the gates of the city and Troy was taken. In general, when enemies send you gifts, this is not good.
17. Alnushka Sage (15277)3 months ago (link)

    Odysseus (Greek #927;#948;#965;#963;#963;#949;#973;#962;, "angry", "angry"), Ulysses (lat. Ulixes), in Greek mythology the king of the island Ithaca, one of the leaders of the Achaeans in the Trojan War. It was Odysseus who came up with the idea with the Trojan horse, which brought victory to the Achaeans. The Greeks pretended to lift the siege from the city, and went out to sea, leaving a huge hollow horse on the shore, inside the body of which a detachment of soldiers hid under the leadership of Odysseus. Despite the warning of the priest Laocoön (Beware of the Danaans who bring gifts, - Laocoön warned) and the prophetess Cassandra, curious Trojans drag the horse into the city.
    They decided to present the statue as a gift to Athena and provide the city with the patronage of the gods. At night, armed Achaeans poured out of the horse through a secret door, killed the guards and opened the gates of Troy. Hence the ancient saying: "Fear the Achaeans (Danaans), who bring gifts", and the expression "Trojan horse".

Often while watching a movie or news, you can hear the famous expression: "Beware of the Danaans who bring gifts." The meaning, however, of this phrase is not entirely clear. Who are the Danaans and why should one be so wary of their gifts? The fact is that the expression is already more than one thousand years old, and therefore modern man does not understand the meaning. However, to understand the meaning of the phrase, it is enough to recall the ancient legends.

The myth of Troy and the very gift of the Danaans

The existence of the once majestic Troy, the Danes and their "gift" became known to modern man from Homer's poem "The Iliad". However, the expression "Fear the Danes who bring gifts" can still be found in the work of another Greek poet - Virgil. Both of them retell the same myth about the siege and capture of the city of Troy. The legend is so instructive that the phrase from it simply could not help but become winged.

So what happened in Ancient Greece that people remember this event to this day? In the 13th century BC, a war broke out between the Danaans (ancient Greeks descended from the mythical king Danae) and the Teukras (inhabitants of Troy and the Hittite kingdom). The reason for this is the love of young Paris for the beautiful Helen, whom he stole from the king of the Danaans, Menelaus. Tom had no choice but to go to war against Troy. According to the myth, the siege of the ancient city lasted more than one year, but the inhabitants steadfastly held the line. Everything changed when the Danes decided to go to the trick.

So, one morning the Trojans saw that there were no Danaans. They also noticed a beautiful statue of a horse left by the besiegers as a gift. They decided that the enemy admitted defeat and admired the courage and stamina of the unconquered Troy. The statue was so large that it was necessary to open the gate and dismantle part of the fortress wall in order to bring it into the city. No one suspected anything, except for the priest Lacoon. It was he, according to the myth, who said as a warning: "Beware of the Danaans who bring gifts." Nobody listened to him, and at night the Danaans hiding inside the horse opened the gates with their fellow tribesmen. Thus fell majestic Troy.

And what does it all mean?

More than one thousand years have passed since then, but at different times these words could be heard. And not only in personal correspondence and fiction, but also in entertainment films. So, in the popular Hollywood action movie "The Rock" the hero utters this very phrase in response to the suggestion of the FSB officers. What did he mean by this? The same as others when they say: "Fear the Danes who bring gifts." The meaning of this phrase for modern man is as follows. Today, such gifts are synonymous with deceit, treachery and deceit. Most often, the expression is used when they want to protect themselves from false gifts that bring only misfortunes and troubles to the new owner. Quite often, the phrase is not fully pronounced, speaking only about the gifts themselves or the Danes, because it is already clear what was meant.

History teaches nothing

Although the myth of the capture of Troy was told by Virgil and Homer as a warning to posterity, a similar story was repeated over and over again. Moreover, the "Trojan horse" was given more than once even to the highest-ranking officials. So, in order to organize a tapping of the American Embassy, ​​one of its employees was presented with a magnificent wooden eagle. With its help, the KGB for 6 years freely received information, so to speak, first-hand, until they accidentally found a bug inside it during cleaning. And it was in the middle of the 20th century.

And this is far from the only case when the insidious gifts of the Danaans were presented as a gift. How many times unwanted members of the royal families received poisoned clothes and food that killed them slowly and imperceptibly. With the advent of intelligence and counterintelligence, the expression "Fear the Danes who bring gifts" has become even more relevant. All friendly gifts were carefully checked, but this, as history has shown, did not always save.

And what about computers?

But who is familiar not only from legends, but also to active computer users. But the fact is that often users are prompted to download an interesting file (most often a video or a game) to their hard drive, and a virus program is also loaded with it. True, it is very similar to the gift of the Danes? As a result, the attacker gains access to the information of interest to him or uses the program to send spam. The owner himself may not suspect anything.

Of course, you can follow the advice: "Beware of the Danes who bring gifts" - and not upload unverified information to your computer. However, this is not always possible. It is much easier and more convenient to install a special anti-virus program so that not a single "Trojan horse" penetrates. A good antivirus will not only reject suspicious files, but also cure already infected ones.

Instead of a conclusion

Sometimes a phrase taken out of context takes on a completely different meaning, especially over time. And the expression "Fear the Danes who bring gifts" (Latin: Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes) still reminds of the deceit of people.

Encyclopedic dictionary of winged words and expressions Serov Vadim Vasilyevich

I'm afraid of the Danes, even those who bring gifts

I'm afraid of the Danes, even those who bring gifts

From Latin: Timeo danaos and dona ferentes[timeo danaos et dona farentes].

From the Aeneid (canto 2, v. 15 et seq.) by the Roman poet Virgil(Publius Virgil Maron, 70-19 BC), who made a Latin transcription of an episode from the poem "Odyssey" by the legendary poet of Ancient Greece Homer(IX century BC).

The Danaans, after a long and unsuccessful siege of Troy, decided to go for a trick: they built a huge wooden horse, inside which the best warriors hid. This building was left at the walls of the city, and they themselves pretended to leave the city and plunged into the ships that stood on the Troad River. The townspeople went out to the deserted shore and dragged this horse into the city, despite the warnings of the prophetess Cassandra and the priest Laocoon, who, knowing the cunning of the enemy, exclaimed: "Quidquid idest, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes"[quidquid id est, timeo danaos et dona farentes] - "Whatever it is, I'm afraid of the Danaans, who bring gifts further!"

At night, the Danaan warriors came out of the horse's belly, killed the guards at the city gates and let their comrades into Troy, who managed to return to the city on their ships. Troy was taken.

And the priest Laocoön paid for his warnings: the goddess Pallas Athena, who helped the Danaans in this war (with her help they built their horse), sent huge poisonous snakes to Laocoön and his sons, and they killed him. This scene is captured in the famous ancient Greek sculpture (1st century BC) of three masters - Agesander. Athenodorus and Polydorus.

Allegorically: a warning against any gift, any concessions from the enemy.