Laocoon

Laocoon was a Trojan priest who warned his countrymen not to take the wooden horse into Troy and who died, with his sons, when two great serpents came out of the sea. The ancient writers agree on the serpents and the horse but not on which god sent them, nor on whether Laocoon died or was left alive. Virgil gives him the line “I fear the Greeks, even bearing gifts.”

Who Was Laocoon?

Hyginus says that Laocoon was the son of Capys and a brother of Anchises, and a priest of Apollo. Against Apollo’s will he had married and had children, and he was chosen by lot to sacrifice to Neptune on the shore (Hyginus, Fabulae 135). In Virgil he is a priest of Neptune, also chosen by lot (Aeneid 2.201–202). Apollodorus calls him a seer who, with Cassandra, said that there was an armed force in the horse (Apollodorus, Epitome 5.17).

The Warning

In the Aeneid, Laocoon runs down from the citadel with a great crowd behind him and cries out to the Trojans. He asks whether they believe the Greeks have really sailed away, says that no gift of the Danaans is free of tricks, and suspects that the horse hides armed men or is a siege engine. His words end: “Whatever it is, I fear the Danaans, even when they bring gifts” (Virgil, Aeneid 2.40–49). He then hurls a heavy spear into the side of the horse; it stands quivering and the hollow belly rings, and Virgil adds that, had the fates and the Trojans’ minds not been against them, Laocoon would have forced them to rip open the Greek hiding place (Virgil, Aeneid 2.50–56).

Apollodorus says that the Trojans debated whether to burn the horse or throw it down from a cliff, with Cassandra and Laocoon warning them, but most chose to spare it as a sacred offering (Apollodorus, Epitome 5.17). In Quintus of Smyrna, Laocoon urges the Trojans to burn the horse and find out whether anything is hidden in its timbers (Quintus of Smyrna, Fall of Troy 12.389–394).

The Serpents

The sources tell the death of Laocoon in several ways.

Virgil: the Priest of Neptune

While Laocoon was sacrificing a great bull at the altar, two serpents came over the calm sea from Tenedos, their crests and bodies rising from the water. They went straight for Laocoon: each first coiled round one of his two small sons and devoured their limbs, then seized him as he came to help, bound him twice round the middle and twice round the neck, and towered above his head. The Trojans fled in terror. The snakes then slid to the temple of Athena on the citadel and hid under the goddess’s feet and the circle of her shield, and the Trojans concluded that Laocoon was paying the penalty for striking the sacred wood of the horse with his spear (Virgil, Aeneid 2.199–233).

Apollo and the broken vow

In Hyginus, Apollo is the sender. Laocoon had married and had children against Apollo’s will, and while he was sacrificing to Neptune on the shore, the god sent two serpents through the waves from Tenedos. They killed his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus and, when Laocoon tried to help, bound and killed him too. The Phrygians thought this happened because he had thrown a spear at the Trojan horse (Hyginus, Fabulae 135). Apollodorus likewise says that Apollo sent a sign: two serpents swam from the neighbouring islands and devoured Laocoon’s sons (Apollodorus, Epitome 5.18). In the earliest account, a summary of Arctinus’ Sack of Ilium, the serpents appeared after the Trojans had decided to dedicate the horse to Athena, and destroyed Laocoon and one of his two sons; the omen so alarmed the followers of Aeneas that they withdrew to Mount Ida (Proclus, Chrestomathia, summary of Arctinus, Sack of Ilium).

Quintus of Smyrna: Athena blinds him

Quintus tells the story differently. Athena, angry with Laocoon and the Trojans, shakes the earth beneath his feet and strikes him blind, yet he still urges his countrymen to burn the horse. The Trojans pity him, but they fear the goddess and are afraid that they too will be punished for the harm done to Sinon, whom they had tortured to learn the truth, and they drag the horse into Troy. Laocoon continues his pleading, and Athena then sends two serpents from a cave on the island of Calydna to kill his sons, while Laocoon, blind and helpless, is left alive (Quintus of Smyrna, Fall of Troy 12.395–482).

Laocoon Sources

Virgil, Aeneid 2.40–56, 2.199–233; Hyginus, Fabulae 135; Apollodorus, Epitome 5.17–18; Proclus, Chrestomathia (summary of Arctinus, Sack of Ilium, in the Epic Cycle); Quintus of Smyrna, Fall of Troy 12.389–482.

See Also: Apollo, Trojan War, Athena, Poseidon, Sinon, Cassandra, Anchises, Aeneas