Talk:Laocoön

Blake

I think that something needs to be said about William Blake's Laokoon - all the stuff about Christianising the sculpture, and the way he transforms it into a "work of art" rather than "science" - i think he saw the Laokoon as scientific because it was too logical so in his own version (a wood etching) he makes the "baroque" over-emphasis of the muscles (especially the stomach) even greater (etc...). I will try to include this if I have a chance. Pjmc 00:21, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Father

Who was Laocoon's father? The page currently says Acoetes, but I googled and found both Acoetes and Priam. Given that Priam was Trojan (and it's the right time) and Acoetes Naxan (sp?) surely Priam would seem to be more likely? Perhaps someone googled before, and put in the argonaut's father for the wrong Laocoon. (damn you, you stupid helenics, for all your smarts, why didn't you invent surnames?) -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:19, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Nah, I'm wrong (logic be damned). See [1]. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:22, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)

It seems Capys = Acoetes, but I found also many hits with Laocoon son of Antenor?!? --Olliminator172.181.104.115 02:11, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

Formatting problems

I fear no amount of font twiddling is going to get all three versions of Virgil onto one line of Laocoön, particularly on the 800x600 screens we're always supposed to support. I'm inclined to chop it into three yellow boxes, vertically aligned, with "original"/"poetic"/"literal" captions outside the boxes. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 01:40, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Go for it. Time I was heading for home anyway. I'll leave you to it. -- Derek Ross

It's done. It's not especially pretty, but nothing better will fit on small screens. Derek, I'm glad you put up the literal translation - it's far easier to understand than that flowery Byronesque claptrap. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 02:06, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Thanks. That's why I did it. Virgil is a damn good poet who isn't afraid to get down and dirty with language and that's missing from the rather anaemic poetic translation even if it does rhyme. -- Derek Ross 07:11, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I suppose I'm being unfair. Parts of Dryden's Aeneid translation are excellent -- I especially like the opening stanzas. It's just that it's extremely difficult to write good poetry and a good translation at the same time all the time. I just think that these particular verses are one of the places where the translation slips a bit and there's more Dryden than Virgil on show. -- Derek Ross 07:51, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Poetry is fine, but not when it becomes unintelligible. I added a link to Dryden and an exlink to a copy of his translation. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 12:59, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The diathesis on the O

Perhaps it might be useful to briefly explain the use of the diathesis on the O of Laocoon. When I first studied this text, it baffled me and it might be useful as a footnote to students of (UK) GCSE Latin. GoldenTie 08:38, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

The umlaut over the second "o" directs the speaker to pronounce each vowel separately. Instead of saying "Lah-o-coon," it is pronounced "Lah-ock-oh-own" The playwright Noël Coward's name has an umlaut because it is supposed to be pronounced "Noh-el" instead of "Nole." Lestrade (talk) 01:25, 4 January 2008 (UTC)Lestrade

A point of order: It's not an umlaut, as that would indicate a different sound to the vowel altogether. The term for one of these things is "diaeresis". I hope that helps. Swanny18 (talk) 23:05, 6 December 2018 (UTC)

PS: I've also added a footnote, for the purpose requested. Swanny18 (talk) 23:06, 6 December 2018 (UTC)

Dona ferentes

I changed ferentis to ferentes, which is correct.

Neptune vs. Minerva

The article indicated that "Poseidon" sent the serpents to kill Laocoon, but, according to Vergil, it was "Tritonis", which is a title of Athena of Greek origin (related to a body of water in Libya, Arcadia, or elsewhere or coming from an Aeolic word for head). I have emended the offending passage. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.52.215.69 (talk) 23:53, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Death in the Aeneid

The description given is incorrect: in the Aeneid, Laocoon threw the spear at the horse BEFORE Sinon began speaking. He was actually in the act of sacrificing a bull when the serpents came and dragged his sons into the water. I'm not an editor and don't know how to make any actual changes. From Pharr's Vergil's Aeneid.

71.234.191.0 (talk) 00:05, 9 October 2011 (UTC)

Recent edits

I've taken the liberty of splitting the Introduction up, as it seemed to diverge into describing the classical depictions of the story. Also, the Death section seems to go on into contemporary depictions. So I've made a Classical Depictions and a Contemporary Depictions section out of what is here. I trust everyone is OK with that. Swanny18 (talk) 22:57, 6 December 2018 (UTC)

spelling

i wish there were a few words said about the spelling of the name. the use of "ö" in English transcription is quite surprising, at least for me. i get that the greek word contains two o-s, o micron and o mega, i am just completely unaware of any other instances to transcript omega as "ö". is this a recent development?89.134.199.32 (talk) 20:18, 11 September 2019 (UTC).

The diaeresis is to tell you each o is pronounced separately, not how they differ in sound. The New Yorker writes it this way, but then it would and probably always has. 2A00:23C7:7B18:9600:59F5:A38D:54F7:A89 (talk) 20:42, 1 October 2021 (UTC)