Laocoön
Publié le 17/01/2022
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Greek A priest of Apollo and Poseidon;
son of Priam, king of Troy, and of Hecuba.
Laocoön made Apollo angry by marrying and begetting
children, breaking his priestly vow of celibacy.
The Trojans had chosen Laocoön to make sacrifices
to Poseidon, whose priest they had murdered nine
years earlier. Before he went to the altar with his two
sons, Laocoön warned Priam to beware of the Trojan
horse. (See The Wooden Horse of Troy, under Trojan
War.) Laocoön said that he feared the Greeks,
especially when they brought gifts. From this, "a
Greek gift" has come to mean a treacherous gift. As
Laocoön and his twin sons, Antiphas and Thymbreus,
stood at the altar of Poseidon, two gigantic serpents,
sent by a vengeful Apollo, coiled about them and
crushed them to death.
A famous statue of Laocoön and the serpents was
discovered in Rome in 1506. It is believed to date
from the second century b.c., and now stands in the
Vatican Museum.
The story of Laocoön is told in Virgil's Aeneid.
Liens utiles
- Laocoön Greek A priest of Apollo and Poseidon; son of Priam, king of Troy, and of Hecuba.
- Laocoön and His Sons - art.