Often when watching a movie or news you can hear the famous expression: "Fear Danians bringing gifts." The meaning, however, of this phrase is not completely clear. Who are Danians and why should one be so afraid of their gifts? The fact is that expression is no longer 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 Three and the same gift of Danians
Modern man has learned about the existence of the once majestic Troy, Danians and their "gift" from Homer's poem "Illiad." However, the expression "Fear Danians bringing gifts" can still be found in the work of another Greek poet - Virgil. Both of them retell the same myth of the siege and capture of the city of Troy. The legend is so instructive that a phrase from it simply could not help but become winged.
So what happened in ancient Greece, that is still remembered about this event? In the 13th century BC, war broke out between the Danians (ancient Greeks, descending from the mythical king Danae) and the Tevkra (residents of Troy and the Hittite kingdom). The whole blame for the love of young Paris for the beautiful Helen, whom he stole from the king of Danai Menelaus. Tom had no choice but to go to war on Troy. According to the myth, the siege of the ancient city lasted more than one year, but the inhabitants firmly held the defense. Everything changed when the Danes decided to trick.
So, one morning the Trojans saw that there were no Danians. They also noticed a beautiful statue of a horse that was besieged by a besieger left by him 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 I had to open the gate and take apart part of the fortress wall in order to bring it into the city. No one suspected anything but the priest of Lacoon. According to myth, he said as a warning: "Fear Danians bringing gifts." Nobody listened to him, and at night the Danians hiding inside the horse opened the gates with their fellow tribesmen. So the majestic Troy fell.
And what does all this mean?
Not one thousand years have passed since then, but at different times one could hear these words. And not only in personal correspondence and fiction, but also in entertaining films. So, in the popular Hollywood action movie "The Rock", the hero Sean Connery pronounces this very phrase in response to a proposal from the FSB. What did he mean by that? The same as others when they say: "Fear Danians bringing 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 uttered, speaking only about the gifts themselves or Danai, because it is already clear what was meant.
History teaches nothing
Although the myth of the capture of Troy was told by Vergil and Homer as a warning to posterity, a similar story repeated itself over and over again. Moreover, the "Trojan horse" was repeatedly presented even to the most senior officials. So, in order to arrange a listening to the American Embassy, one of his employees was presented with a magnificent wooden eagle. With his help, the KGB for 6 years freely received information, so to speak, first-hand, until by chance during the cleaning they found a bug inside it. But it was in the middle of the 20th century.
And this is far from the only case when the insidious gifts of Danians were presented as a gift. How many times did objectionable members of the royal families receive poisoned clothes and food that killed them slowly and unnoticed. With the advent of intelligence and counterintelligence, the expression “Fear Danians bringing gifts” has become even more relevant. All friendly gifts were carefully checked, but this, as history has shown, did not always save.
What about computers here?
But to whom the Trojan horse is familiar not only from legends, it is to active computer users. But the fact is that often users are invited to download an interesting file to their hard drive (most often a video or a game), and with it a virus program is also downloaded. True, it is very similar to the gift of Danians? As a result, an attacker gains access to information of interest to him or uses a program to send spam. The owner himself may not suspect anything.
Of course, you can follow the advice: “Fear Danians bringing gifts” - and do not download unverified information onto 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 torn phrase out of context takes on a completely different meaning, especially over time. And the expression “Fear Danians bringing gifts” (Latin: Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes) still recalls the cunning of people.