Laocoon. Son of Priam and priest of Apollo. He opposed the reception of the Wooden Horse into Troy, thinking it some artifice of the deceitful Greeks. He and his two sons were killed by two monstrous serpents which came from the sea. The people believed that they were struck by the gods because of their interference. The death of Laocoon is the subject of one of the most magnificent and celebrated works of ancient sculpture still in existence; it was discovered in 1506 at Rome, and is now preserved in the Vatican. It is a single block of marble, and was the work of Agesander of Rhodes and two other sculptors.

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