AN ITALIAN BRONZE GROUP OF LAOCOÖN

The present group depicting the Trojan priest Laocoön and his two sons being attacked by snakes at the temple of Neptune has been an iconic image since it was discovered in 1506 near Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome. The story, from Book II of Virgil's Aeneid, tells how Laocoön was blinded and his sons were condemned to death by Athena, who favoured the Greeks, for warning the citizens of Troy not to bring the wooden horse within the city walls. Another interpretation of the story, however, is that Apollo sent the snakes to punish the Seer for sleeping with his wife in his temple in the presence of the deity's image.