Work / monument · artifact

Laocoön and His Sons

Also known as Laocoön Group

Laocoön and His Sons is a marble sculpture showing the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons attacked by sea serpents. Pliny the Elder attributed it to the Rhodian sculptors Hagesander, Athenodorus and Polydorus. Rediscovered in Rome in 1506 and acquired by Pope Julius II, it is in the Vatican Museums and deeply influenced Renaissance artists, among them Michelangelo.

Laocoön and His Sons
Image: Wilfredor · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Laocoön and His Sons. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/laocoon-and-his-sons
MLA
“Laocoön and His Sons.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/laocoon-and-his-sons. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Laocoön and His Sons.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/laocoon-and-his-sons.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Laocoön and His Sons’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/laocoon-and-his-sons (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻