Laocoon- Greek FigureMortal"Priest of Apollo"

The Spear and the Warning

When the Greeks appeared to sail away from Troy, leaving behind a great wooden horse on the beach, it was Laocoön who rushed down from the citadel to oppose bringing it within the walls. A priest — of Poseidon in some traditions, of Apollo Thymbraeus in others — he cried out to the Trojans that the gift was a trap. "I fear Greeks even bearing gifts," he warned, and hurled his spear into the Horse's flank. The weapons of the hidden soldiers inside clashed against each other, a sound that should have told the Trojans everything they needed to know.

The Serpents

But the gods had chosen Troy's fate. As Laocoön performed a sacrifice at Poseidon's altar on the shore, two enormous sea serpents rose from the strait and coiled across the beach toward him and his two young sons, Antiphantes and Thymbraeus. The serpents wrapped themselves around all three, crushing them despite Laocoön's desperate struggle to tear free. Then the creatures slithered up to the temple of Athena on the citadel and took refuge beneath the goddess's shield. Whether Athena had sent them to ensure Troy's fall — her vengeance for the Judgement of Paris — or Apollo had punished Laocoön for violating his priestly vows by marrying and fathering children, the result was the same: the one man who had spoken the truth lay dead on the sand.

Troy's Doom

The watching Trojans drew exactly the wrong lesson. Rather than heeding Laocoön's warning, they read his death as divine punishment for striking the sacred Horse with his spear. Persuaded by the Greek agent Sinon, who swore the Horse was a sacred offering to Athena, they breached their own walls to drag it inside. That night the hidden Greeks climbed out and opened the gates. Laocoön died warning a city that chose to see his death as proof he was wrong.