The famous legend of the Trojan Horse is timeless, with almost everyone knowing at least the premise of it; a war fought between the Greeks and the Trojans was ended by a false gift of a giant horse statue on wheels, resulting in a victory for the Greeks. Fast forward to 1999 when cyclist Lance Armstrong began his career, not only in cycling but also in drugs. The illegal drugs, PEDs, were used to give Armstrong an edge in his cycling career, despite getting caught in 2012. Some may wonder where this could possibly be going- these two worlds couldn’t possibly be related, could they? Turns out, when digging deeper, finding similarities between Lance Armstrong and numerous characters from the Trojan Horse, specifically Achilles, is unavoidable.
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Both are also proven to be highly irrational at times. In Black Ships Before Troy on page 89, for example, Achilles attached Hector’s dead body to the tail of his chariot, driving around Patroclus’ grave three times. He even repeated the violently disrespectful act for twelve days in a row before coming to his senses. One cannot deny how unnecessary and unreasonable this is. According to the book, he was “like a madman driven out of his wits.” This is significant because it proves how Achilles can abandon all logic at times, this act that sounds like a demonic ritual included. One may object here that Achilles was overcome by grief, but even the deepest remorse should not cause the average person to lose their senses quite as much and as easily as Achilles did in that moment. Lance Armstrong was not quite as absurd in character, but he is notably illogical. For instance, in an interview with BBC, Armstrong admits that if he were to be transported back to 1995, he still would have done the drugs. This is absurd- he was stripped of all titles, banned from cycling ever again, and endlessly written about for cheating, yet even after knowing the consequences he still would have done the drugs? This proves that he is foolish and did not learn from his past mistake of doping. Overall, both characters are or were illogical in many
Both are also proven to be highly irrational at times. In Black Ships Before Troy on page 89, for example, Achilles attached Hector’s dead body to the tail of his chariot, driving around Patroclus’ grave three times. He even repeated the violently disrespectful act for twelve days in a row before coming to his senses. One cannot deny how unnecessary and unreasonable this is. According to the book, he was “like a madman driven out of his wits.” This is significant because it proves how Achilles can abandon all logic at times, this act that sounds like a demonic ritual included. One may object here that Achilles was overcome by grief, but even the deepest remorse should not cause the average person to lose their senses quite as much and as easily as Achilles did in that moment. Lance Armstrong was not quite as absurd in character, but he is notably illogical. For instance, in an interview with BBC, Armstrong admits that if he were to be transported back to 1995, he still would have done the drugs. This is absurd- he was stripped of all titles, banned from cycling ever again, and endlessly written about for cheating, yet even after knowing the consequences he still would have done the drugs? This proves that he is foolish and did not learn from his past mistake of doping. Overall, both characters are or were illogical in many