The Trojan Women takes place in the immediate aftermath of Troy's defeat, which ended the ten-year Trojan War, fought between the Trojans and the Greeks. The night before the play's events, the Greeks infiltrated the city hidden inside a giant wooden horse, which the Trojans took to be an offering to the gods. The Greeks have now killed the Trojan men and are in the process of enslaving the surviving women and children before they head back to Greece.