The tale of The Trojan Horse sets the background for the famous sculpture 1Laocoön and his Sons. In the tale, the Trojan War had been going on for ten years; the Greeks concocted a plan as a last effort at finally defeating the Trojans. The Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse and hid an army of men inside of it. Appearing to abandon the war and sail home, they left behind the massive wooden horse. The Trojans gathered outside the city to try and figure out what to do with the horse. Laocoön (a priest of Apollo or sometimes Poseidon) encouraged them not to accept it. He warned them not to trust the Greeks and their gifts. While Laocoön spoke about this, 2Poseidon sent sea serpents to stop him from speaking. Laocoön and his sons were strangled to death by the sea serpents. After witnessing this tragic event, the Trojans believed Laocoön was punished by Poseidon for telling lies so they accepted the gift; they wheeled it into the city as a victory trophy. During the same night, the small Greek army inside of the wooden horse crept out and let the rest of the army in through the gates of the city. They destroyed the city of Troy, thus ending the war. The story lives on with the remarkable sculpture created by Hagesandoros, Polydoros, and Athenodoros. Today this sculpture is found in the Vatican in Rome after being excavated in 1506. Although the true origin of Laocoön and his Sons is arguably questionable, most art historians believe it is of Hellenistic from the first century B.C.E. The style of the sculpture resembles 3The Altar of Zeus in Pergamon and may have inspired the famous renaissance sculptor Michelangelo. Laocoön and his Sons depicts agony as shown by the movement of each figure. Laocoöns limbs move in very expressive directions. Each limb moves in a contrasting direction portraying the tragedy that he is in. His body is that of almost an idealized god with his pronounced muscles and warrior like pose; his body creates a zigzag shape which is aesthetically pleasing to ones eye. Laocoöns head tilts left, his torso tilts right, his knee left, his shin right, and his foot
