Source Verification: Laocoön

Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.

What the Sources Attest

Who is Laocoön in Greek mythology?

He is the Trojan priest who tried to stop the Trojans taking the wooden horse into their city. Virgil makes him a priest of Neptune chosen by lot. Hyginus calls him a priest of Apollo and brother of Anchises. In every version he is attacked by two sea serpents, and in most his two sons die. The Trojans read this as a sign against him, or a sign from the gods, and drag the horse inside. Troy falls that night.

Source: Virgil, Aeneid 2.199-231

Why was Laocoön killed?

The ancient sources give three reasons. In Virgil the Trojans think he was punished for hurling his spear at the horse. In Hyginus and Servius, Apollo sends the serpents because Laocoön married and had children against the god's will, or lay with his wife before the god's image. In Quintus Smyrnaeus, Athena punishes him for urging the Trojans to burn the horse. Quintus blinds him, then kills his sons.

Source: Virgil, Aeneid 2.225-231

What is the myth of Laocoön and his sons?

In Virgil's telling, Laocoön warns the Trojans not to trust the wooden horse and throws a spear into its side. Soon afterwards he is sacrificing a bull at the altar when two serpents come across the sea from Tenedos. They seize his two young sons first, then him as he tries to help. The serpents disappear into Athena's shrine on the citadel. The Trojans decide he has been punished, and they pull the horse inside.

Source: Virgil, Aeneid 2.199-231

What happened to Laocoon and his sons?

It depends on the source. In Virgil and Hyginus the serpents kill the sons and then Laocoön. Apollodorus's Epitome says only that two serpents devoured his sons. Quintus Smyrnaeus has Athena blind Laocoön and then kill the sons before his eyes, so that the father survives to mourn. Frazer, citing the epic Sack of Troy by Arctinus, says that poem had the serpents kill Laocoön and only one son.

Source: Apollodorus, Epitome 5.18

Who did the Laocoön?

The famous Laocoön sculpture is credited to three sculptors of Rhodes: Hagesander, Polydorus and Athenodorus. Pliny the Elder names them in his Natural History, where he says the group stood in the palace of the emperor Titus and was carved from one block of stone. A marble group unearthed in Rome in 1506 is now in the Vatican Museums. Whether it is Pliny's original or a copy is debated.

Source: Pliny the Elder, Natural History 36.37

Where Accounts Differ

whose priest Laocoön was
why Laocoön was killed
who died in the serpents' attack
where the serpents came from
which Laocoön

Whose priest he was differs. Virgil (Aeneid 2.201) calls him a priest of Neptune chosen by lot. Hyginus (Fabulae 135) and Servius (on Aeneid 2.201) make him a priest of Apollo, the latter of Thymbraean Apollo. Only Hyginus makes him a son of Acoetes and brother of Anchises.
Why he died is the central disagreement. Virgil (Aeneid 2.229-231) has the Trojans say he paid for striking the sacred oak with his spear, and never says who sent the serpents. Apollodorus (Epitome 5.18) says Apollo sent them as a sign. Hyginus (Fabulae 135) has Apollo send them because Laocoön married against his will, and also reports the spear as the Phrygians' explanation. Servius says he lay with his wife before the god's image, and that Virgil recast the story as an excuse for the Trojans. Quintus Smyrnaeus (Posthomerica 12) has Athena blind him for urging the burning of the horse and then send the serpents.
Who died differs. Virgil (Aeneid 2.213-219) and Hyginus have the serpents kill Laocoön and both sons. Apollodorus (Epitome 5.18) names only the sons. Quintus Smyrnaeus has the sons die and the father live on, blind. Frazer, reporting Arctinus, gives Laocoön and one son.
Where the serpents came from differs. Virgil (Aeneid 2.203) and Hyginus say Tenedos. Apollodorus (Epitome 5.18) says only the neighboring islands. Quintus Smyrnaeus says the island of Calydna.
The name is shared. Hyginus (Fabulae 14) lists a different Laocoön, son of Porthaon and brother of Oeneus, among the Argonauts. That Calydonian Laocoön is a separate figure with no link to Troy.

Sources

Primary sources

Virgil, Aeneid 2.40-56
Virgil, Aeneid 2.199-231
Virgil, Aeneid 2.232-249
Apollodorus, Epitome 5.17
Apollodorus, Epitome 5.18
Hyginus, Fabulae 135
Servius, Commentary on the Aeneid 2.201
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica 12
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 36.37
Virgil, Aeneid 2.195-198