Let me be the first to ask: Who cares?
I don't care very much, because it's a pretty bad work of sculpture. However, I also think it's genuine. Look at the feet of the three figures. They all show a wide separation between big toe and second toe. That's typical of Antique sculpture, because people wore sandals with a thong between the toes, which shaped the gap, and the sculptors copied the feature they saw in real life.
Believe it or not....:)
So, who cares? I care. Mostly because there is something perfectly accurate about what the story of this Priest says about the human mind and heart. I care also for this reason: I had to be years in corp america, long after college before someone recommended to me the book the "march of folly" by Tuchman. It was there I read about Laocoon. Tuchman, a standard secularist, rationalist, liberal, makes a good review of what 'folly' is through history. But I had never heard of this character in school. And after reading that book, a flaw, a bona fide flaw in the American Character I care about revealing at every chance I get.
This scene depicts the death of Laocoon and his sons. Laocoon was a Trojan priest of Apollo but was praying to Poseidon at the time of his demise. He was the one who coined the phrase "I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts."
Laocoon came into the light at the end of the Trojan War when there was a disagreement about what to do with the wooden horse. The priest bravely attempted to remind the Trojans about the cunning Greeks and how they wouldn't be the type of people to give up. He even threw a spear into the horse which gave a hollow sound.
Poor Laocoon met his demise when he was praying to Poseidon and two snakes (ironically sent by Poseidon) from the island of Tenedos (again ironically where the Greek ships were hidden) came and squeezed him and his two sons to death.
from: http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/classics/students/Ribeiro/laocoon.htm
Laocoon failed to get the attention of the Trojans. He really tried, (some say he even threw a spear at that wooden horse) but he and his two sons paid with their lives for their efforts. The Greeks of course won this particular fight. But, it doesn't always have to turn out this way.
Why did I pick a messenger that was ignored, a messenger whose warnings did nothing to stave off the destruction of Troy? Why pick him - he got himself killed along w/ his sons? Because, although publik skhools taught me about Helen of Troy, they didn't say a word about Laocoon. They should have, for there is a bigger lesson than the fact that a pretty woman can make men behave irrationally. That lesson is that people seem WIRED to ignore warnings ... and destroy the warner.
Despite that reality, warnings sometimes do indeed help; even though its really uncomfortable, some folks do actually listen and a few even heed. I sort of felt sympathy for the Trojans, in the same way I feel sympathy for us here in the USA. Still, too many of us are just too comfortable to listen. But after 9-11, times are changing I think.
From "gobucks" freeper home page.