(), a Trojan hero, who plays a prominent part in
the post-Homeric legends about Troy, especially in the Ἰλίον
πέρσις, the substance of which is preserved in Proclus's Chrestomathia. He was a
son of Antenor (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 347) or of Acoetes (Hyg. Fab. 135), and a priest of the Thymbraean Apollo, or, according
to others, of Poseidon. (Tzetz. l. c.; comp. Verg. A. 2.201, with Serv. note.) His story runs as follows :--As the Greeks were
unable to take Troy by force, they pretended to sail home, leaving behind the wooden horse.
While the Trojans were assembled around the horse, deliberating whether they should draw it
into their city or destroy it, Laocoon hastened to them from the city, and loudly cautioned
them against the danger which it might bring upon them. While saying this he thrust his lance
into the side of the horse. (Verg. A. 2.40, &c.) The
Trojans, however, resolved to draw it into the city, and rejoiced at the peace which they
thought they had gained at length, with sacrifices and feasting. In the meantime Sinon, who
had been taken prisoner, was brought before the Trojans, and by his cunning treachery he
contrived to remove every suspicion from himself and the wooden horse. When he had finished
his speech, and Laocoon was preparing to sacrifice a bull to Poseidon, suddenly two fearful
serpents were seen swimming towards the Trojan coast from Tenedos. They rushed towards
Laocoon, who, while all the people took to flight, remained with his two sons standing by the
altar of the god. (Virg. l.c. 229; Hyg. Fab.
135.) The serpents first entwined the two boys, and then the father, who went to the
assistance of his children, and all three were killed. (Verg. A.
2.199-227; comp. Q. Smyrn. 12.398, &c.; Lycoph.
347.) The serpents then hastened to the acropolis of Troy, and disappeared behind the shield
of Tritonis. The reason why Laocoon suffered this fearful death is differently stated.
According to Virgil, the Trojans thought that it was because he had run his lance into the
side of the horse, but according to others because, contrary to the will of Apollo, he had
married and begotten children (Hygin. l.c.), or because Poseidon, being
hostile to the Trojans, wanted to show to the Trojans in the person of Laocoon what fate all
of them deserved.
The sublime story of the death of Laocoon was a fine subject for epic and lyric as well as
tragic poets, and was therefore frequently treated by ancient poets, such as Bacchylides,
Sophocles, Euphorion, Lysimachus, the Pseudo-Peisander, Virgil, Petronius, Quintus Smyrnaeus,
and others. But Laocoon is equally celebrated in the history of ancient art, as in that of
ancient poetry; and a magnificent group, representing the father with his two sons entwined by
the two serpents, is still extant. It was discovered in 1506, in the time of pope Julius II.,
at Rome, in the Sette Sale, on the side of the Esquiline hill; and the pope, who knew how to
appreciate its value, purchased it from the proprietor of the ground where it had been found,
for an annual pension, which he granted to him and his family. This group excited the greatest
admiration from the moment it was discovered, and may be seen at Rome in the Vatican. Good
casts of it exist in all the museums of Europe. Pliny (Plin. Nat.
36.4, 11), who calls it the masterwork of all art,
says that it adorned the palace of the emperor Titus, and that it is the work of the Rhodian
artists Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus. He further states that the whole group consists
of one block of marble, but a more accurate observation shows that it consists of five pieces.
Respecting the excellent taste and wisdom which the artists have displayed in this splendid
work, see Lessing, Laocoon oder über die Grenzen der Malerei und Poesie
; Heyne, Antiquarische Aufsätze, ii. p. 1-52; Thiersch, Epochen, p. 322; Welcker, das Academ. Kunstnuseum zu
Bonn, p. 27, &c.
Another personage of the name of Laocoon is mentioned among the Argonauts. (Apollon. 1.192.)