Laocoön

Laocoön
/lay ok"oh on'/, n.
1. Class. Myth. a priest of Apollo at Troy who warned the Trojans of the Trojan Horse, and who, with his two sons, was killed by two huge serpents sent by Athena or Apollo.
2. (italics) a late 2nd-century B.C. representation in marble of Laocoön and his sons struggling with the serpents: attributed to Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus of Rhodes.
Also, Laocoon, Laokoön, Laokoon.

* * *

In Greek legend, a seer and priest of Apollo.

He was the son of Agenor of Troy or the brother of Aeneas's father Anchises. Laocoön offended Apollo by breaking his priestly vow of celibacy and begetting children, and by warning the Trojans not to accept the wooden horse presented by the Greeks. While preparing to offer a sacrifice to Poseidon, he and his two sons were crushed to death by sea serpents sent by Apollo.

* * *

 in Greek legend, a seer and a priest of the god Apollo; he was the son of Agenor of Troy (Trojan War) or, according to some, the brother of Anchises (the father of the hero Aeneas). Laocoön offended Apollo by breaking his oath of celibacy and begetting children or by having sexual intercourse with his wife in Apollo's sanctuary. Thus, while preparing to sacrifice a bull on the altar of the god Poseidon (a task that had fallen to him by lot), Laocoön and his twin sons, Antiphas and Thymbraeus (also called Melanthus), were crushed to death by two great sea serpents, Porces and Chariboea (or Curissia or Periboea), sent by Apollo. A much better-known reason for his punishment was that he had warned the Trojans against accepting the wooden horse left by the Greeks. This legend found its most famous expressions in Virgil's Aeneid (ii, 109 et seq.) and in the Laocoön statue (now in the Vatican Museum) attributed by Pliny the Elder to three Rhodian sculptors, Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus. The statue was for a time in the palace of the Emperor Titus (AD 79–81). After its rediscovery during the Renaissance, it regained its exalted reputation, inspiring Gotthold Lessing's famous essay on art, Laocoon (1766).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Laocoön — (Λαοκόων [laok ooːn] , usual English pronunciation [leɪ ɒkəʊɒn] ), the son of Acoetes [ Laocoon, son of Acoetes, brother of Anchises, and priest of Apollo... (Hyginus, Fabula 135.] was a Trojan priest of Poseidon, [According to Virgil: Laocoon,… …   Wikipedia

  • Laocoon — Trojan priest of Apollo, from L. Laocoon, from Gk. Laukoun, from laos people (see LAY (Cf. lay) (adj.)) + koeo I mark, perceive. Laocoön, n. A famous piece of antique sculpture representing a priest of that time and his two sons in the folds of… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Laocoon — La*oc o*[ o]n, n. [L., fr. Gr. ? ] 1. (Class. Myth.) A priest of Apollo, during the Trojan war. (See 2.) [1913 Webster] 2. (Sculp.) A marble group in the Vatican at Rome, representing the priest Laoco[ o]n, with his sons, infolded in the coils of …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Laocoon — LAOCŎON, ontis, Gr. Λαοκόων, οντος, (⇒ Tab. XXXI.) Antenors Sohn. Tzetz. ad Lycophr. v. 346. Doch machet man ihn auch zu des Anchises Bruder und des Acötis Sohne, wiewohl sein Vater alsdenn Kapys seyn müßte. Hygin. Fab. 135. & Muncker. ad ill. Er …   Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon

  • Laocoon [1] — LAOCŎON, ontis, (⇒ Tab. XXVI.) Parthaons Sohn, und Halbbruder des Oeneus, einer der Argonauten. Hygin. Fab. 14. & Apollon. l. I. v. 191. Cf. Burm. Cat. Argon …   Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon

  • Laocoon — héros troyen, fils de Priam et d Hécube, prêtre d Apollon à Troie. Puni par Apollon, il périt étouffé avec ses fils par des serpents. Un groupe sculpté (v. 50 av. J. C., musée du Vatican) évoque cet épisode …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • LAOCOON — fil. Priami ex Hecuba, Apollinis Thymbraei sacerdos, qui primus omnium equum ligneum, quo Troia prodita est, intra urbem recipiendum dissuasit, hastamqueve in eum tanto impetu contorsit, ut sonantia intus arma audirentur. Quo facto deorum… …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

  • Laocoön — [lā äk′ō än΄] n. [L < Gr Laokoōn] Gr. Myth. a priest of Troy who, with his two sons, is destroyed by two huge sea serpents after he warns the Trojans against the wooden horse …   English World dictionary

  • Laocoon — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Laocoon (homonymie). Groupe du Laocoon, œuvre des Rhodiens Agésandre, Athénod …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Laocoon — noun (Greek mythology) the priest of Apollo who warned the Trojans to beware of Greeks bearing gifts when they wanted to accept the Trojan Horse; a god who favored the Greeks (Poseidon or Athena) sent snakes who coiled around Laocoon and his two… …   Useful english dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”