The composition is taken from an ancient Roman mosaic panel made for the Emperor Hadrian after the original, which was part of a mosaic pavement made by Sosus of Pergamum and described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History. It was found by Cardinal Giuseppe Alessandro Furietti (1685-1764) during archeological excavations at the Villa Adriana in Tivoli in 1737. One of the most notable attractions of Rome, on Furietti's death in 1764 it was bought by Pope Clement XIII for the recently founded Capitoline Museum.