The Great Lie at Troy

Everybody knows the story of the Trojan Horse. If you didn't read about it in Homer's Iliad, chances are you heard about it anyway from a different Homer: Homer Simpson, who reenacted the timeless tale of the Trojan War in The Simpsons' season thirteen episode "Tales From the Public Domain."

While we have found the remnants of the ancient city of Troy, and there probably was a war there at some point, chances are that the Trojan Horse story was just a myth. That's a real shame, too, because it is one of the best records of deceit humankind has ever produced. 

If we have learned anything from the lies made at Troy, it is that words (especially lies) are more powerful than swords. The Trojans, with superior infrastructure and weaponry, met their demise because they were thoroughly outsmarted by the Greeks. 

And then you realize, lies are just methods of outsmarting your colleague. In order to make a successful lie, one must first consider the intellect of the intended recipient and come up with a false statement which they believe as true. One can only be able to do this if they are able to predict their recipient's response. 

Lying has been around for millenia. It is a part of what makes us human. Lying helps bend the rules, making otherwise unbeatable battles winnable. It is, in its own way, a weapon of mass destruction.