拉奥孔是Acoetes之子，特洛伊人，波塞冬或尼普顿（罗马神话对应波塞冬的神）的祭司。由于他违反了神的旨意而死，可能是结婚生子，也可能是与妻子在神殿中交媾而犯了亵渎之罪。史诗中写道他在特洛伊战争最后阶段的木马计中警告特洛伊人不要接受希腊人留下的木马，指出这会给特洛伊带来灾难，但雅典娜派出海蛇绞杀了他和他的儿子，希腊人的木马计也顺利进行。

在《埃涅阿斯纪》中，维吉尔让拉奥孔说出了名句Equo ne credite, Teucri / Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes，意思是“不要相信这木马，特洛伊人 / 即使希腊人带着礼物来，我也怕他们。”这句话后来衍生为一句俗语：“小心带着礼物的希腊人”，表示对方其实包藏祸心。

Laocoön (/leɪˈɒkoʊˌɒn, -kəˌwɒn/; Ancient Greek: Λαοκόων, IPA: [laokóɔːn]), the son of Acoetes, is a figure in Greek and Roman mythology and the Epic Cycle. He was a Trojan priest who was attacked, with his two sons, by giant serpents sent by the gods. Though not mentioned by Homer, the story of Laocoön had been the subject of a tragedy, now lost, by Sophocles and was mentioned by other Greek writers, though the events around the attack by the serpents vary considerably. The most famous account of these is now in Virgil's Aeneid where Laocoön was a priest of Poseidon (or Neptune for the Romans), who was killed with both his sons after attempting to expose the ruse of the Trojan Horse by striking it with a spear.