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 LAOCOON LAODICEA 157 which he undertook at the suggestion of Tira- boschi, the historian of Italian literature. No general history of Italian painting had pre- viously appeared, and the histories of par- ticular schools were too strongly marked by bias and prejudice to be of any general value. Lanzi's work was the first comprehensive trea- tise in which the history of each school is given according to its several epochs, and the first written in a philosophical and impartial spirit. Several editions were published in the author's lifetime, each of which received numerous ad- ditions and revisions from his hand. It has been translated into various languages, and is familiar to English readers through the excel- lent version of Thomas Roscoe, which forms 3*vols. of Bonn's " Standard Library." Lanzi also published a collection of dissertations on Etruscan vases ; a book of Latin poems written by himself ; a treatise on the ancient Italic languages; a translation of Hesiod's "Works and Days " in terza rima ; and Opere sacre, a series of treatises on spiritual subjects, to which he is said to have attached more importance than to any of his other writings. LAOCOOJV, a Trojan hero, generally repre- sented as the son of Antenor, and a priest of Apollo or Neptune. While the Trojans were assembled round the wooden horse of the Greeks, deliberating whether they should admit it into their city, Laocoon rushed forward, warned them not to receive it, and struck his spear into its side. As a punishment for his impiety toward an object consecrated to Mi- nerva, two monstrous serpents attacked him and his two sons while preparing to sacrifice in the temple of Neptune, and, coiling them- selves round the bodies of the three, crushed them to death. This legend was a favorite subject with the poets and artists of ancient Greece. The story is related by Virgil, and a celebrated group of sculpture representing Laocoon and his sons encoiled by the serpents, and suffering the agonies of strangulation, is still extant, and is said by Pliny to have been the work of the Rhodian statuaries, Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus. It was discov- ered at Rome in 1506, and purchased by Pope Julius II., who placed it in the Vatican, where it still remains. The Laocoon group has been made the subject of admirable art criticism by both Winckelmann and Lessing ; by the latter in the celebrated work on art entitled Laotioon. LAODAMIA, a mythical Grecian princess, daughter of Acastus and wife of Protesilaus, a Thessalian hero, who, having led his warriors against Troy, was the first Greek slain on the Asian shore. His disconsolate spouse entreat- ed the gods to permit her to hold converse with her husband for only three hours. The request was granted, and Mercury conducted Protesi- laus back to the upper world ; but when he was forced to return, Laodamia, unable to endure separation from him, expired. The legend is embodied in one of Wordsworth's finest poems. LAODICEA, in ancient geography, the name of six Greek cities in Asia, situated in Phrygia, Syria, Lycaonia, Ccelesyria, Media, and Meso- potamia,- founded by Seleucus Nicator, the first king of Syria, and some of his successors. Euins of Laodicea. Two deserve particular notice. I. Laodicea on the Lycos, a tributary of the Masander in the S. W. corner of Phrygia, which, however, was claimed by some earlier writers as part of Lydia and Caria. It received its name from Laodice, the queen of Antiochus Theos, its founder. It passed from the kings of Syria to those of Pergamus, and under the Romans, though frequently visited by destructive earth- quakes, became one of the most flourishing and opulent cities of Asia Minor. It was destroy- ed in 1402 by Tamerlane. Its luxury in the early times of Christianity is attested by the severe rebuke addressed to its inhabitants in the Apocalypse. Paul addressed an epistle to the Christians of Laodicea. (See EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO THE.) The town of Eski-Hissar was built by the Turks on its site. II. Lao- dicea on the Seacoast, a maritime city of Syria, 50 m. S. by W. of Antioch, founded by Seleu-