In this beautiful figure, Ariadne is represented asleep on a rock in
the Isle of Naxos, abandoned by the faithless Theseus, and at the
moment when Bacchus became enamoured of her, as described by several
ancient poets.
It is astonishing how the expression of sleep could be mistaken for
that of death, and cause this figure to be called _Cleopatra_. The
serpent on the upper part of the left arm is evidently a bracelet, of
that figure which the Greek women called [Greek: opidion], or the
little serpent.
For three successive centuries, this statue of Parian marble
constituted one of the principal ornaments of the Belvedere of the
Vatican, where it was placed by Julius II.