The Trojan priest Laocoon uttered the famous words: 'Whatever it is, even when Greeks bring gifts I fear them, gifts and all.' (Virgil, The Aeneid, Book II, 59-70) when the Greeks presented the great Wooden Horse to the Trojans. Immediately two great sea serpents sent by Poseidon who favoured the Greeks came and strangled him and his sons. The famous Hellenistic marble group by Hagesandros, Polydoros and Athenadoros, now in the Vatican Museums was unearthed in 1506 in the ruins of ? palace and became one of the main sources of inspiration for Mannerist and Baroque artists and sculptors