Laocoon

1 9.9

A Trojan priest who warns against the wooden horse and dies with his sons by snakes

proper noun
/leɪəˈkɔːən/

Literature

: Laocoonte

If, during the week of the symposium, a radical new interpretation of Michelangelo (presenting evidence that he was the creator of no less an icon than the Laocoon) could be proposed by a young scholar, why shouldn't the next generation have radical new ideas about long-familiar works of African art?
Trojan priest Laocoon
Laocoon, high priest
Laocoon and his sons

Examples

Napoleon's booty included the Laocoon, the Apollo Belvedere, the Spinario, and the Horses of St. Mark's.

Academic text (1994)
PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Marco Dente, Laocoon, engraving.

Academic text (1991)
There was a group, like Laocoon and the serpents, one figure rising above a mass, holding above his head what seemed to be a silver buckler and a flashing bottle.

Fiction book (1998)
That is why the body of the ancient Roman girl discovered in 1485 receives a reception so closely parallel to the Laocoon's: during these decades, the life of antiquity itself seems to be emerging from the ground.

Academic text (1991)
In Virgil's epic, Laocoon warns the Trojans against bringing the wooden horse into Troy.
Only Laocoon, the Trojan priest, realized the danger of the Greek gift and tried to destroy it.
Laocoon and his sons met a tragic fate when serpents sent by the gods attacked them.

Surface Forms

Laocoon main

Etymology

Laocoon comes from Greek myth and is the name of a Trojan priest who warned the people about the Greek wooden horse but was killed, with his sons, by sea serpents sent by the gods. A helpful way to remember Laocoon is to think 'tragic warning', because his story and the famous statue both show a true warning that was ignored.