This is a Roman copy of a famous work by Timotheus (c. 370 B. C.). This Greek sculptor, known for his activity in Epidaurus and in the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, shows Leda partly naked as a result of a sudden movement which opens her dress. This new feature was surpassed twenty years later by Praxiteles with the creation of the totally naked Aphrodite of Cnidus. The viewer has to imagine the absent eagle pursuing the swan which, in turn, is protected by the heroine with her cloak. The twins Castor and Pollux were born from the marriage of Zeus, in the form of a swan, with Leda, the Queen of Sparta.