When a revolt broke out in Judaea in 66 CE, initial Roman efforts to suppress it met with failure, and Rome only began to make progress once the emperor Nero sent Vespasian and three legions to restore order. The war dragged on for four years, until the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE (although some sporadic resistance continued for several more years), by which time Vespasian had been proclaimed emperor and his son, Titus, had assumed command of the operation. Father and son held a joint triumph in Rome in 71, famously depicted on the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum, and it is this event that is depicted in the series of figures of which this is a part.

This set contains just one figure, repeated six times. The figure is of a lictor, a sort of honorary bodyguard that attended magistrates and emperors. He carries a fasces, which was a bundle of birch sticks tied together by leather strips or laurels. This often included a long axe in the middle, the blade of which would appear in one side, but here there is no axe. The fasces symbolised power and the application of justice, and lictors such as this paraded just in front of the man for whom the triumph was being staged – in this case Vespasian and Titus.

The sculpting of the figure is very nice, and all the lines are clean and free of flash. The folds in the clothing are well done too, and the obvious flexible mould used to make this resin figure means there is no extra material hidden from the mould, nor any sort of flatness in the pose. A very nice figure that would be an essential part of this triumph.