The octagonal Courtyard of Belvedere was the center of the villa, built by Bramante for Pope Innocent VIII at the end of the fifteenth century. In one corner is the Group of Laocoon; it was found in the RUINS OF Nero's Golden House (Domus Aurea), near the Colosseum in the XV century. The sculpture represents the Trojan priest, punished by the gods, for the warning he gave his townsmen about the horse of Troy. The legend says that two serpents came from the sea and killed Laocoon and his two children. This is a remarkable work by Agesandros and his sons, Athenodoros and Polidoros of Rhodes, from the first century B.C. Rhodes was, with Alexandria in Egypt and Ephesus in Turkey, one of the three great centers of art around of the Mediterranean during the first century B.C. The art of this period is extremely realistic and the Laocoon group is the most representative of it, with the desperate struggle of the priest, in the moment of agony, his muscles exaggeratedly tense, his sons, one already dying, the other turning his head hopelessly towards his father.
In another corner is the Apollo Belvedere, a statue believed to be a copy from a bronze masterpiece by the Greek sculptor Leochares of the IV century B.C. The figure of the god is tall, athletic and slender; he steps forward to see if the arrow he has just thrown has met its mark. Apollo was also the god defender and bringer of peace. This statue was found at Grottaferrata in the fifteenth century.
In the Room of Animals are numerous works from different times, in which animals play a role. There is a copy of the Meleager by Skopas, and the group of Mithras, the Persian god sacrificing the bull to the Sun.
