This fragmentary torso was once heavily — and rather imaginatively — restored as Diomedes, the Greek warrior in the Trojan Wars. On the other hand the way the body twists, with the weight on one leg and shoulder dropped, and also leaning forward, could suggest the pose of an athlete throwing a discus.

There has also been speculation that the torso is related to the work of a sculptor called Pythagoras, but this is based on a tenuous link to a passage in the writings of Pliny. Nor do we have any information about where or when the sculpture was found; the Valentini Torso remains something of a mystery