LAOCOON, in ancient mythology, a Trojan hero, was a priest of Apollo, or, according to some, of Neptune. While the Trojans were hesitating whether they should convey into the city the wooden horse which the Greeks had left at their pretended departure, Laocoon urged them to destroy it, and, at the same time, pierced its side with his lance. The horse had been consecrated to Minerva, who punished the sacrilege. Soon after, when Laocoon was sacrificing a bullock to Neptune on the shore, two enormous ser-
pents issued from the sea, and attacked his two sons, standing beside the altar. The father, rushing to their aid, was likewise involved in their coils, and all three perished. This story, so often sung by ancient poets, is interesting to us, chiefly from being the subject of a magnificent piece of sculpture, which was found, in 1506, among the ruins of the palace of Titus, was bought by Pope Julius II., and placed in the Vatican. It represents three persons (of whom the middle one, Laocoon, is the tallest) struggling in the folds of two monster serpents, and with intense agony visible in all parts of their bodies. According to Pliny, with whose description it has been identified, it is the work of three Rhodian sculptors, Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, and stood in the palace of Titus. He also supposes it to have been made out of one stone, but minute examination can discover five pieces, artfully joined together. The right arm of Laocoon, which was wanting when the group was dug up, has been skilfully replaced. The date of the work is not fixed. Lessing places it in the reign of Titus, and Winckelmann in the time of Lysippus and Alexander. This group has been made the subject of an essay by Lessing, and has been described by Heyne and others.