224 
LAO 
for 300 years, and placed in the Mufeum of Arts at Pa¬ 
ris ; and from the defcription of this Mufeum, published 
by authority at Paris in 1805, we fhall extract fome par¬ 
ticulars relating to this monument of antiquity; fil'd ob¬ 
serving, that the right arm of the father and.two of the 
arms of the children, which were wanting, have been fup- 
plied by arms moulded on the groupe in platter of Paris. 
“Pliny fays, that the groupe was fculptured out of a 
Angle block. It might have appeared fuch to him; fince 
even Raphael faw but three pieces; Mengs counted five; 
and we add a fixth, namely, the plinth on which the altar 
relts, and to which the other pieces of the block are at¬ 
tached. This plinth might belong to the fifteenth cen¬ 
tury, but the cafing ( 7 ’ encaijfcment) of pieces of the block 
does notallow us to fuppoie that the fupport which the 
plinth furnifiies made one piece with the altar. It mud 
Jiave conftituted, then, a fixth piece in the antique. The 
firft piece comprehends the body of the altar and the 
trunk of the ftatue of the father, to the middle of the 
left leg in the fold of the ferpent, and a third of the right 
thigh behind the coil of the ferpent. The fecond piece 
includes the front of the altar covered with drapery, the 
remainder of the thigh, together with the right leg of the 
father, and the whole of the youngeft foil. The third 
piece comprehends the eldeft fon, with his drapery, of 
which the lower part is let into the plinth. The fourth 
piece forms the left leg of the father, the joint of which 
is vifible under the coil of the ferpent and the fattening 
.in the plinth. The fifth piece makes the right arm of the 
father ; and the hole for fattening the original cramp is 
vifible in the fiioulder. Laftly, The fixth piece is the 
.plinth, 011 which rett the altar, the left leg of the father, 
and the eldeft fon. 
“ It has been remarked, that the right leg of the eldeft 
fon is fliorter than the left; but it feems not to have been 
noticed that the fame inequality prevails in the two legs of 
the father. The right leg of the eldeft fon meafures 1 
•foot 6 inches, the left 1 foot 3 inches 4 lines; difference, 
2 inches 8 lines. The whole length of the left leg of the 
father is a feet 1 inch 2 lines, that of the right 2 feet 2 
lines; difference, 1 inch. It lias been fuppoled that this 
difproportion was intended to correct an error in vifion, 
which mutt diminifh in appearance the length of that leg, 
if this groupe were placed, as it ought to be, confiderably 
below the eye; but it llrikes us that then the fame diffi¬ 
culty w'ould occur refpetfting the ftiort leg, which by the 
fame optical effeft mult appear ftill ffiorter. Another rea- 
fon then muft be given; and, fince we cannot fuppofe 
that in nature fo confiderable a difference would occur, it 
5 s more probable that thefe are faults of the artifts. The 
tibia of the ftretched-out leg of the Apollo is an inch 
longer than the other, and a ftill greater inequality is ob- 
fervable in the Diana. It might be ftill more difficult to 
affign the reafon for one particularity which we have no¬ 
ticed in the right hand of the eldeft of the fons; the 
thumb of which has three phalanges, or bones, inftead of 
i two.” 
Though the Laocoon is certainly one of the moft va¬ 
luable productions of the chiffel now in exiftence, the 
evidence of its antiquity is not in favour of the fuppo- 
fition that it was executed in ancient Greece. We may 
alfo remark that the paffage quoted from the AJneid pro¬ 
bably furniflied the artifts with the defign ; and that it 
was executed in or fubfequent to the time of Virgil. The 
comments on the feveral pieces of which the groupe is 
now compcfed prove that Pliny had not clofely obferved 
it: but we are not to conclude that it contained as many 
pieces in its original as in its reftored ftate. Before mo¬ 
dern amateurs criticize the ancient matters of the chiffel 
by the rule and compafs, they ffiould carefully inveftigate 
the myfteries of their art. 
LAOD'AMAS, a fon of Alcinous, king of the Phoen¬ 
icians, who offered to wreftle with Ulyffes, while at his fa¬ 
ther’s court. Ulyffes, mindful of the hofpitality of Al¬ 
cinous, refufed the challenge of Laodomas. Homer. 
L A G 
LAODAMPA a daughter of Acaftus and Aftydamia, 
who married Protefilaus, the fon of Iphiclus king of 4 
part of Theffaly. The departure of her hufband for the 
Trojan war was the fource of grief to her; but, when (he 
heard that he had fallen by the hand of Heftor, her forrow 
was increafed. To keep alive the memory of a hufband 
whom (he had tenderly loved, (lie ordered a wooden ftatue 
to be made, and regularly placed in her bed. This was 
feen by one of her lervants, who informed Iphiclus, that 
liis daughter’s bed was daily defiled by an unknown ltran- 
ger. Iphiclus watched his daughter; and, when he found 
that the intelligence was falfe, he ordered the wooden 
image to be burned, in hopes of diffipating his daughter’s 
grief. He did not fucceed. Laodamia threw lierfelf 
into the flames with the image, and perifhed. This cir- 
cumftance has given occafion to fabulous traditions re¬ 
lated by the poets, which mention, that Protefilaus was 
reftored to life and to Laodamia for three hours, and that, 
when he was obliged to return to the infernal regions, he 
perfuaded his wife to accompany him. Virg. JZn. Ovid. 
Her. Ep. xiii. Hygin. fab. 104. 
LAOD'ICE, a daughter of Priam and Hecuba, who be¬ 
came enamoured of Acamas, fon of Thefeus, when he 
came with Diomedes from the Greeks to Troy with an 
ernbafiy to demand the reftoration of Helen. She obtain¬ 
ed an interview and the gratification of her defires at the 
houfe of Philebia the wife of a governor of a fmall town 
of Troas which the Greek ambaffador had vifited. She 
had a fon by Acamas, whom file called Munitus. She af¬ 
terwards married Helicaon fon of Antenor, and Telephus 
kingofMyfia. Some call her AJlyoche. According to the 
Greek fcholiaft of Lycophron, Laodice threw herfelf down 
from the top of a tower, and was killed, when Troy was 
facked by the Greeks. 
LAOD'ICE, a After of Mithridates, who married Aria- 
rathes king of Cappadocia, and afterwards her own bro¬ 
ther Mithridates. During the fecret abfence of Mithri¬ 
dates, (he proftituted herfelf to her fervants, in hopes that 
her hufband was dead ; but, when file faw her expectations 
fruftrated, fhe attempted to poifon Mithridates, for which 
ffie was put to death.—A queen of Cappadocia, put to 
death by her fubjeffs for poifoning five of her children. 
—A filter and wife of Antiochus II. She put to death 
Berenice, whom her hufband had married. She was mar r p 
dered by order of Ptolemy Evergetes, B.C. 246. 
LAOD'ICE, the mother of Seleucus. Nine months 
before (he brought forth, (he dreamt that Apollo had in¬ 
troduced himfelf into her bed, and had prefen ted her with 
a precious ftone, on which was engraved the figure of an 
anchor, commanding her to deliver it to her fon as foon 
as born. This dream appeared the more wonderful when 
in the morning (lie diicovered in her bed a ring anfwering 
the fame defcription. Not only the fon that (he brought 
forth, called Seleucus, but alfo all his fucceflors of the 
houfe of the Seleucidse, had the mark of an anchor upon 
their thigh. Jujhn. 
LAODICE'A, in ancient geography, a town of Afia, 
on the confines of Media and Perlia Propria.—A town of 
Mefopotamia, according to Pliny ; being one of the fix 
towns built by Seleucus under this name.—A town of the 
Peloponnefus, in the Megapolitide, according to Poly¬ 
bius and Thucydides; the fame with the Ladoncea of 
Paufanias. 
LAODICE'A CABIO'SA, a town of Afia, in Syria, 
fituated eaftward near mountains, \veft of Emefa and the 
river Orontes. It was favoured by the emperor Severus, 
on account of its attachment to the interelts of the em¬ 
pire. By way of diftinftion, it was called “ Laodicea ad 
Libanum.” 
LAODICE'A COMBUS'TA, a town of Alia, in Ly- 
caonia, eaft of Philomelium ; fuppofed to have derived its 
name from traces of ancient volcanos. 
LAODICE'A on the LY'CUS in ancient geography, 
a town of Afia, in Phrygia, at firft called Diojpolis , then 
Rhoau It was built by Antiochus fon of Stratonice, and 
called 
