In Greek mythology, Sinon was a Greek warrior during the Trojan War. He pretended to have deserted the Greeks and, by a lying story backed with the most solemn oaths, convinced the Trojans to bring the Trojan Horse into the city (against the advice of Cassandra and Laocoon). Inside the giant wooden horse were Greek soldiers, who, as night fell, disembarked from the horse and opened the city gates, thus sealing the fate of Troy. See Virgil, Aeneid II, 77.

In the Divine Comedy Dante sees Sinon in the eighth circle of Hell where, along with other perjurers, he is condemned to suffer a burning fever for all eternity.