Object description
This small figurine depicts a Roman nobleman and dates to between the 4th and 5th centuries AD.
Carved from bloodstone, we can see a high attention to detail with both facial features and clothing being clearly etched. He has a furrowed brow, unkempt hair and a moustache and beard.
As for clothing, he wears long trousers, a long-sleeved tunic, and an overmantle fastened on the left shoulder with a round brooch. He is also wearing a crown.
The figure has been identified as a barbarian nobleman. The reason why we can make this identification is because of his clothing- the trousers indicate a provincial origin.
It is thought that the figurine may have been part of a victory trophy. If so, it could have been arranged together with other captive figurines around an image of the emperor or imperial standard. The fact that the figure’s hands are clasped and unbound suggests an honourable defeat.
Roman figurine/Mineral,Silica,Quartz,Bloodstone/4th to 5th century AD/The Hunt Collection/PD
The barbarians
The term “barbarian” was used in Roman times, to define people that lived in the provinces of the Empire. From the time of Julius Caesar, barbarians had been recruited as soldiers to protect the Roman frontiers/borders. Two major frontiers were created by the rivers Rhine and Danube. There is considerable archaeological evidence of military forts along these rivers.
The empire developed diplomatic ties with those Germanic rulers who occupied lands just beyond the borders in an effort to protect itself from hostile barbarians even farther afield. Promises of Roman citizenship and military and economic support encouraged barbarian leaders to assist their wealthy neighbour, primarily by providing troops. Such arrangements permitted barbarians of high status to accumulate great wealth, in the form of direct gifts of jewellery from the empire and payments in gold coins.
As mentioned above, this particular figurine may have been part of a victory trophy. Roman victory over barbarians is represented on coins and in sculpture. The barbarian is almost always portrayed as the humiliated prisoner. The best he can hope for is to be appointed vassal king of his region by the emperor.
Perhaps the most famous depiction of Roman victory over barbarians is the emperor Trajan’s column in Rome (see image below). This monument portrays the defeat of a group called the Dacians, a civilisation in what is now Romania.
Trajan’s army includes many different ethnicities, including African cavalrymen, Iberians, Levantine archers wearing pointy helmets, and bare-chested Germans in pants. They’re all fighting the Dacians, suggesting that anyone could become a Roman.
Trajan's Column, Rome.
Sources
LEVI, ANNALINA CALÓ. “Barbarians on Roman Imperial Coins and Sculpture.” Numismatic Notes and Monographs, no. 123, 1952, pp. iii–56. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43607367. Accessed 14 Aug. 2025.
“Trajans Amazing Column”|National Geographic https://www.nationalgeographic.com/trajan-column/article.html
The Hunt Museum Essential Guide. Scala Publishers. 2002.