Jump To:

• Laocoön
  Laocoön

  noun

  a priest of Apollo at Troy who warned the Trojans of the Trojan Horse, and who, with his two sons, was killed by two huge serpents sent by Athena or Apollo.
• Laocoon
  Laocoon

  noun

  Greek myth a priest of Apollo at Troy who warned the Trojans against the wooden horse left by the Greeks; killed with his twin sons by two sea serpents

Laocoön

American  

[ley-ok-oh-on] / leɪˈɒk oʊˌɒn /

Or Laocoon,

noun

1. Classical Mythology. a priest of Apollo at Troy who warned the Trojans of the Trojan Horse, and who, with his two sons, was killed by two huge serpents sent by Athena or Apollo.

2. (italics) a late 2nd-century b.c. representation in marble of Laocoön and his sons struggling with the serpents: attributed to Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus of Rhodes.

---

Laocoon British  

/ leɪˈɒkəʊˌɒn /

noun

1. Greek myth a priest of Apollo at Troy who warned the Trojans against the wooden horse left by the Greeks; killed with his twin sons by two sea serpents

---

Laocoon Cultural  

1. In classical mythology, Laocoon was a priest in Troy during the Trojan War (see also Trojan War). When the Trojans discovered the Trojan horse outside their gates, Laocoon warned against bringing it into the city, remarking, “I am wary of Greeks even when they are bringing gifts.” (See “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”) The god Poseidon, who favored the Greeks, then sent two enormous snakes after Laocoon. The creatures coiled themselves around the priest and his two sons, crushing them to death. Some sources say Athena sent the snakes.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Laocoön Laocoon

We paid our respects to the The Laocoön and His Sons sculpture.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 14, 2013

He remained for more than a year, drawing the antique sculptures and monuments being excavated with stunning regularity — the Laocoön had surfaced two years before.

From New York Times ● Oct. 7, 2010

The priest Laocoön, when the horse was first discovered, had been urgent with the Trojans to destroy it.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

To the horrified spectators Laocoön had been punished for opposing the entry of the horse which most certainly no one else would now do.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

Laocoön and his two sons heard his story with suspicion, the only doubters there.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

Last Generation has said it had targeted the Laocoon statue, which is believed to have been carved in Rhodes in 40-30 B.C., because of the symbolic story behind it.

From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2023

Last Generation said the group targeted the Laocoon statue, which is believed to have been carved in Rhodes in 40-30 B.C., because of the symbolic story behind it.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 18, 2022

Three grimacing satyrs struggling to fight off a serpent entwined around their legs, indeed looked like a parody of the famous Laocoon group dug up in Rome in 1506.

From New York Times ● Jun. 18, 2010

The title of Nikos Mantzios's show, Laocoon, is taken from the Vatican's classical marble sculpture, which Mantzios has referred to as a "historical jigsaw puzzle piece".

From The Guardian ● Jun. 11, 2010

Some of the limbs rival in size the parent stem, and will be gnarled and contorted in a manner recalling the writhings of the Laocoon.

From Australian Pictures Drawn with Pen and Pencil by Willoughby, Howard