Evan Silberstein

Greek Sculpture- Laocoon and his Sons

         Recently, our class has been looking at Greek plays and I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the sculptures during the time. One of the sculptures I found were Laocoon and his Sons, built by Athenodoros and Polydorus. The statue depicts the Trojan priest Laocoon (also a priest of Apollo) and his sons, Antiphantes and Thymbraeus, fighting sea serpents. The story of Laocoon begins with him disgracing Apollo by having intercourse with his wife. Apollo then sends down two sea serpents to crush Laocoon and his to twin sons. The story of Laocoon and his Sons is known in the western art world as "the prototypical icon of human agony".