[2] The painting narrates a Greek mythological episode involving one of Zeus' sons, the giant Tityos.

He had been sent by the scorned goddess Hera, Zeus' third wife, after Leto (Latona), his lover, in order to rape her.

In the lower part, a snake is depicted as a symbol of evil, a reflection of the sin committed by Tityos.

One of the characteristics of this style, the use of foreshortening, enhances the drama and violence of the episode, which is less usual in Titian, reinforcing its effect.

The Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari cites Michelangelo as having made, among other subjects, a drawing of Tityos being eaten by an eagle as a gift to his friend Tommaso dei Cavalieri.