Editing Laocoön (section)

==Classical descriptions==
[[File:Laocoon MAN Napoli Inv111210.jpg|thumb|Laocoön and his sons attacked by serpents sent by Athena, fresco in [[Pompeii]]]]
The story of Laocoön is not mentioned by [[Homer]], but it had been the subject of a tragedy, now lost, by [[Sophocles]] and was mentioned by other Greek writers, though the events around the attack by the serpents vary considerably. The most famous account of these is now in [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' where Laocoön was a priest of Neptune ([[Poseidon]]), who was killed with both his sons after attempting to expose the ruse of the [[Trojan Horse]] by striking it with a spear.{{efn|According to Virgil:
:''Laocoon, ductus Neptuno sorte sacerdos'';{{rp|style=ama|at=2.101}}
two serpents were sent to Troy across the sea from the island of [[Ancient Tenedos|Tenedos]], where the Greeks had temporarily camped.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Virgil]] |title=[[Aeneid]] |at=2.199–227}}</ref>
}}
 
Virgil gives Laocoön the famous line
: ''"[[Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes|Equō nē crēdite, Teucrī / Quidquid id est, timeō Danaōs et dōna ferentēs]]"''
: {{small|[Do not trust the Horse, Trojans / Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts.]}}
This quote is the source of the saying: ''"Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."''

In Sophocles, however, he was a priest of [[Apollo]] who should have been celibate, but had married. The serpents killed only the two sons, leaving Laocoön himself alive to suffer.<ref>Smith, p 109; according to [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], for one</ref> In other versions, he was killed for having committed an impiety by making love with his wife in the presence of a [[cult image]] in a sanctuary,<ref>according to [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]</ref> or simply making a sacrifice in the temple with his wife present.<ref>Stewart, 85; this last in the commentary on Virgil of [[Maurus Servius Honoratus]], citing [[Euphorion of Chalcis]]</ref> In this second group of versions, the snakes were sent by Poseidon<ref name=Smith-1846>{{cite book |author=Smith, William |year=1846 |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |publisher=Taylor and Walton |page=776}}</ref> and in the first by Poseidon and [[Athena]], or [[Apollo]], and the deaths were interpreted by the Trojans as proof that the horse was a sacred object. The two versions have rather different morals: Laocoön was either punished for doing wrong, or for being right.<ref>Boardman (1993) p 199</ref>