L Bonus Round
Oct. 19th, 2005 02:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sienamysticThis is for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alibi_factory, who hadn't heard of it before.
L is for Laocoon.
Laocoon was a priest of the Trojan temple of Poseidon who tried to warn the city that the big wooden horsie wasn't going to do them any favors (he was the originator of the "Greeks bearing gifts" line). Poseidon was on the side of the Greeks in this particular fight, and sent two giant snakes to kill him and his two sons. (In some versions of the story, you can substitute Apollo for Poseidon, or in some cases, Athena.) At any rate, the essence of the story is: piss off the wrong god and you and your family get devoured by giant poisonous snakes. Of doom.
This particular statue, executed by Athanadoros, Agesander, and Polydoros, was particularly impressive to sculptors of the Renaissance, who thought it had been carved from one solid block of marble (it hadn't). It was excavated in the 1500s, and Michelangelo was present for the unearthing. (I discovered an article claiming that the entire statue is a forgery by Michelangelo, on the grounds that he had been known to be a big fat faker previously, but I have no idea if the person making the claims has any leg to stand on. If she's wrong, she should probably not go near bodies of water, because Poseidon doesn't like to be trifled with.)
At any rate, the execution of the tormented man, his muscles taut, his face strained in anguish as he wrestles with the snakes that coil around him and his sons - it's a splendid piece no matter who created it. I remember going to the Vatican Museum with a group of my fellow grad students, rounding the corner, and seeing my friend Little Hussy's face when she saw it in front of her as one of the best memories of my life.
alibi_factory, who hadn't heard of it before.L is for Laocoon.
Laocoon was a priest of the Trojan temple of Poseidon who tried to warn the city that the big wooden horsie wasn't going to do them any favors (he was the originator of the "Greeks bearing gifts" line). Poseidon was on the side of the Greeks in this particular fight, and sent two giant snakes to kill him and his two sons. (In some versions of the story, you can substitute Apollo for Poseidon, or in some cases, Athena.) At any rate, the essence of the story is: piss off the wrong god and you and your family get devoured by giant poisonous snakes. Of doom.
This particular statue, executed by Athanadoros, Agesander, and Polydoros, was particularly impressive to sculptors of the Renaissance, who thought it had been carved from one solid block of marble (it hadn't). It was excavated in the 1500s, and Michelangelo was present for the unearthing. (I discovered an article claiming that the entire statue is a forgery by Michelangelo, on the grounds that he had been known to be a big fat faker previously, but I have no idea if the person making the claims has any leg to stand on. If she's wrong, she should probably not go near bodies of water, because Poseidon doesn't like to be trifled with.)
At any rate, the execution of the tormented man, his muscles taut, his face strained in anguish as he wrestles with the snakes that coil around him and his sons - it's a splendid piece no matter who created it. I remember going to the Vatican Museum with a group of my fellow grad students, rounding the corner, and seeing my friend Little Hussy's face when she saw it in front of her as one of the best memories of my life.