Unutterably Silly Be afraid! Be very afraid!

[Patricia]

It might be Laocoön (the priest who recognised that the Trojan Horse was a trick. the Trojans ignored him. A sea-snake killed him. It was sent by an angry deity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C3%B6n

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by Patricia

It might be Laocoön (the priest who recognised that the Trojan Horse was a trick. the Trojans ignored him. A sea-snake killed him. It was sent by an angry deity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C3%B6n

Doesn't look like a depiction of Laocoon. Most of the ones I've seen show him in agony (sometimes with his sons) as a result of being strangled by the serpent (which I think was sent by Neptune).

This guy looks more like he is blowing into a conch shell. What the snakes have to do with it, I'll never know, but he doesn't look all that bothered by them.

[Patricia]

Fair point Ricky.
I meant the pulp cover, not DixieGal's fountain, which looks more like a Triton. He usually comes with a conch-shell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triton_(mythology)

[RickyMaveety]

You know something?? The more I look at that statue, the more it looks like the "snakes" are really just the ends of his legs. I think it is just a depiction of a mer-man ... but instead of the single fish tail that we are used to seeing, it looks like his legs both terminate in fish tails.

That would explain why he is blowing on the conch shell. If you look really closely ... you'll see that a portion of each snake comes off of his legs and fans out into fins.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Fair point Ricky.
I meant the pulp cover, not DixieGal's fountain, which looks more like a Triton. He usually comes with a conch-shell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triton_(mythology)

Oh, but the pulp cover is just "stories from the Everglades" .... I think that's just some guy, in the swamp, with some dogs (who are maybe bloodhounds hunting him down or something), and he suddenly finds himself with a snake on top of everything else.

I mean ... that's what I get from reading the text on the cover of the magazine.

[Patricia]

Yes, and that is consistent with the Triton mythology.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Yes, and that is consistent with the Triton mythology.

And, it makes sense that Naples would have a fountain with Triton as it's centerpiece.

But I just can't see a pulp magazine putting Laocoon on the cover .... especially not with a couple of dogs. I have yet to see a bit of pulp fiction that was that literate.

[Patricia]

Ha, I've googled and found the fountain. It is a Triton, by Carlo de Veroli.

There's a picture at the bottom of this page. (But without DixieGal.)

http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew...fountains.html

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

snip
and he suddenly finds himself with a snake on top of everything else.

snip.

"....on top of everything else." [italics mine]

Hmmmmmm.......

[RickyMaveety]

Dr. Drib ... with all due respect, the guy in the swamp is wearing pants. So his "everything else" is not showing.

Hell, for all I know, the last snake he encountered bit the damn thing off altogether.

And .... sometimes a banana is just a banana.

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Ha, I've googled and found the fountain. It is a Triton, by Carlo de Veroli.

There's a picture at the bottom of this page. (But without DixieGal.)

http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew...fountains.html

OMG!!! You are amazing! That's it precisely!!!! OK, I'm taking my ugly pic off of here now, so that it doesn't crash MR's servers or something.

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by Patricia

It might be Laocoön (the priest who recognised that the Trojan Horse was a trick. the Trojans ignored him. A sea-snake killed him. It was sent by an angry deity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C3%B6n

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

Doesn't look like a depiction of Laocoon. Most of the ones I've seen show him in agony (sometimes with his sons) as a result of being strangled by the serpent (which I think was sent by Neptune).

This guy looks more like he is blowing into a conch shell. What the snakes have to do with it, I'll never know, but he doesn't look all that bothered by them.

YOu mean like the Laocoon we saw at the Vatican? I didn't take a photo of it, but here's a nice big photo: http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/Laocoon.htm

[Roy White]

The guy must be a Texan!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

Dr. Drib ... with all due respect, the guy in the swamp is wearing pants. So his "everything else" is not showing.

Hell, for all I know, the last snake he encountered bit the damn thing off altogether.

And .... sometimes a banana is just a banana.

i thought it was cigars which were sometimes just cigars.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i thought it was cigars which were sometimes just cigars.

"A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke."
Rudyard Kipling