57 Why is the Vatican Laocoon (Þg. 1) sitting down? Why would a man who is being, together with his two sons, mortally wounded, not stand up, or, on the contrary, fall down completely? And why does this unnatural position, after all, does not seem so strange to us? As early as in the 1980’s, Dieter Blume noticed that the death of Laocoon, the Trojan priest attacked by two sea monsters after hav- ing warned the Trojans against the wooden horse the Greeks had left in front of the city walls, could be parallelled to Christ’s sacri- Þce. 1 This interpretation was later developed by Bernard Andreae in his »Laocoon and the Foundation of Rome,« of 1988, in which the scholar masterly connects recent archaeological Þndings to the history of the group’s reception in the 16 th century in order to link Laocoon’s death not only to Christ’s sacriÞcial death, but also, to the topos of the »renovatio Romae.« 2 In the books and papers that followed the 500 th anniversary of the group’s exhumation, in 2006, this view has been mostly reaぞrmed. Let us remember how the story goes. The literary tradition relat- ed to the myth of Laocoon, as in the case of so many mythologi- cal characters, does not maintain a single version, but rather deve- lops many variations introduced by numerous authors who have treated the subject. The earliest known mention of the myth is in the Knkqw RgtukX (Ilioupersis) – one of the poems of the so called Epic Cycle (seventh-Þfth centuries BC) – composed by Arctinus and transmitted through the compilation of Proclus, probably written in the second century AD. According to this version, the Trojans debat- ed about what was to be done with the wooden horse left by the Greeks in front of the city gates; some suggested burning it, others throwing it from the cliぜs, others still dedicating it to Minerva. The third view Þnally prevailed, and the Trojans, believing that the war was over, held a high festival to celebrate the supposed peace. At that moment, however, two serpents sent by Apollo appeared and attacked Laocoon and one of his sons. The portent alarmed Aeneas and his family to such an extent, that they decided to escape im- mediately. The relationship between the attack of the reptiles and Aeneas àight is, therefore, explicit; Laocoon’s and his son’s death constitute the omen thanks to which the warrior could be saved. The divine intervention could be thus understood as a manifestation of Apollo’s favor towards the Trojans: the god knew that Troy was already doomed to destruction, but at the same time wished to allow the survival of at least a part of it – symbolized by Aeneas and the Trojan »penates.« There is no hint, therefore, of any demerit on the part of the victim. If Arctinus, however, does not attribute any guilt to Laocoon, in the Þfth century BC a »hybris« is introduced at the root of the events which would result in his death: in a poem originally composed by Bacchylides and recorded by Servius (ad.Aen., 2,201), Laocoon, a priest of Apollo, has sexual intercourse with his wife before the image of the god, who for this reason punishes him by sending two serpents to kill his sons; after the attack, the reptiles are transform- ed into men. The idea of guilt seems to have been retained in a tragedy by Sophocles on the Laocoon subject, from which, unfor- tunately, only a few fragments have subsisted. 3 Servius also quotes the Alexandrian poet Euphorion (end of the third century and beginning of the second century BC), a very im- portant model for Vergil. 4 As in the »Aeneid,« Euphorion’s Laocoon is chosen priest to Neptune by lot, since the original priest of the god, whose sacriÞces failed to prevent the Greeks from landing, had been stoned to death by his countrymen. Also as in Vergil, Laocoon is immolated together with his two sons. 5 In this version, one still encounters the idea of the priest’s guilt for having had intercourse with his wife before an image of Apollo. Let us brieày cite, Þnally, the references to the Laocoon myth in the »Posthomerica« of Quintus Smyrnaeus, the »Bibliotheca« of Apollodorus, the »Fabulae« of Hyginus, and Petronius’ »Satirica.« 6 The main reference to the Laocoon myth, however, the one which has made it so familiar to modern and contemporary people and by which it is normally identiÞed, is undoubtedly in the second book of the »Aeneid.« The passage related to the Trojan priest’s terrible fate is included in the painful narration Aeneas makes to Queen Dido about the Greek deceits and the Trojan misfortune, which begins at the end of the Þrst book. The hero tells how the Achaeans sailed to the island Tenedos so that the Trojans would believe that they were returning to Greece, but instead deposited before the city gates the insidious wooden horse, whose internal cavity bore arm- ed warriors. The Trojans were unsure about what to do with the »simulacrum« when Laocoon, a priest of Neptune, rushing inàamed before a crowd, exhorted his countrymen not to trust the Greeks and their gifts. After his powerful speech, Laocoon throws his spear at the horse’s side, evoking a loud prophetic reverberation. As pointed out by R.G. Austin, 7 Vergil’s Laocoon is presented as a well-known character of 03 On Religions and their Objectivations as seen from Intercultural Perspectives/Die Religionen und ihre Objektivierungen in der Kunst aus interkultureller Perspektive Maria Berbara Images of Heroism and Martyrdom Borrowings from the Vatican »Laocoon« during the Early Modern Period Fig. 1 Agesandros, Athenodoros, Polydoros (authors of a lost prototype, around 140 BC); Laocoon group; Roman copy of the Hellenistic prototype, first century AD