A false etymology claims spelling "Tryphiodorus" is based on the Greek word "truphē," meaning "luxury" or "extravagance".
The narrative is introduced with a summary of the dire situation of the troops of the Greeks and Trojans (lines 6-39): both are mined by the tiredness of years of fighting and heavy casualties.
The Greeks have an assembly in which Odysseus convinces the most brave fighters to hide with him in the horse and the rest of the troops to pretend they are fleeing from Troy, while preparing to come back the following night (108-234).
The following morning the Trojans discover the disappearance of the Achaean army, inspect their camp and admire the Wooden Horse (235-57).
Sinon appears before them covered in blood and convinces Priam to take the horse into their citadel to win Athena's attention and avoid her helping the Greeks to return (258-303).
One of them, Anticlus, is about to give in forcing Odysseus to strangle him, while Athena orders Helen to go to her room and light a torch to call the Greek fleet back to Troy for the final battle (454-98a).
While the Trojans are overcome by a deep slumber, the gods abandon Troy and Helen and Sinon light torches to guide the return of the Greek fleet (498b-521).
The fleet arrives and the hidden warriors leave the horse, giving start to a long night of fighting, full of dramatic episodes (506-663).
The Sack of Troy can be considered part of a late antique vogue for mythological epic, which includes the Posthomerica by Quintus of Smyrna (third century AD), the Dionysiaca by Nonnus of Panopolis (mid fifth c. AD), the Rape of Helen (by Colluthus) and the Description of the Statues in the Terms of Zeuxippus by Christodorus (early sixth century, transmitted as book 2 of the Palatine Anthology).
On the contrary, Virgil and Triphiodorus are particularly close in the treatment of the figure of Sinon, in particular in their speeches (compare Aeneid 2.76-96, 103–4, 189–94, and Triph.
[4] Besides the Sack of Troy, the entries of the Suda (T 1111 and 1112) attribute to Triphiodorus two more poems: Marathoniaca (Μαραθωνιακά), probably narrating how Theseus defeated the bull of Marathon; a Story of Hippodamea (Τὰ κατὰ Ἱπποδάμειαν), on one of the females of this name (e.g. the daughter of King Oenomaus, who killed all her suitors in a chariot race until Pelops defeated him).