Laocoon and His Sons

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The Laocoon Group, or Laocoon and His Sons, is an iconic representation of Hellenistic art, featuring a massive figurative Greek sculpture on display at the Museo Pio Clementino within the Vatican Museums in Rome. The marble replica of a bronze original, as described by Roman writer Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE), depicts Trojan priest Laocoon and his two sons Antiphas and Thymbraeus being brutally slain by enormous snakes, an event vividly recounted by Roman poet Virgil (70 BCE - 19 CE) in his epic poem the Aeneid. The statue, which caught Pliny's eye in Titus Flavius Vespasianus' palace (39-81 CE), a future Roman Emperor Titus (ruled 79-81 CE), is attributed to three skilled Greek sculptors from Rhodes: Hagesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus. This attribution aligns with an inscription found on a fragment of similar marbles discovered separately from Laocoon itself. Despite ongoing debate about its date and original origins, Laocoon and His Sons stands out as one of the most renowned works of Greek sculpture during the Hellenistic Period.