The chosen subject was from the history of the Cornelii, specifically the arrival of Cybele's image in Rome during the Second Punic War, as told in Ovid, Appian and Livy. Publius Cornelius Scipio had consulted the Sibylline Books and ordered the image brought from Mount Ida. The Delphic Oracle requested that the most worthy Roman be sent to collect it and so the senate had chosen Africanus' cousin Scipio Nasica for the role. The ship carrying the image back got stuck in the shallows of the River Tiber, but the Vestal Virgin Claudia Quinta proved her virginity by helping to free it.