The Laocoon, the high priest of Neptune, tried to warn the city of Troy of the plot by the Athenians to invade using a wooden horse to conceal their soldiers. The God Poseidon, hearing of this sent a massive sea-serpent to strangle the Laocoon and his sons. The famously vigorous Greek sculpture dug up in Rome in 1506 had a huge impact on artists like Michelangelo and Titian and shows the agony of the strangulation.