Byzantine emperors gave gold crossbow fibulas to soldiers, state officials, and allied chieftains and kings as signs of imperial friendship. This elaborate safety-pin was used to secure the official cloaks of state and military officers. The pin of the fibula is released by unscrewing the onion-shaped terminal to the right. Most fibulae use a simple catch-plate to fasten the pin. The novelty and relative complexity of the screw mechanism made this piece an even more valuable gift.

A Latin cross embedded in a lacey pattern decorates this fibula. It is made with an open-work technique in which the designs are punched into gold sheet to create tiny perforations. The head of the cross represents the imperial Christian monogram, Chi Rho—or the first letters of Christ's name in Greek. Alpha and omega, the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet, are suspended from the arms of the cross, symbolizing the all-encompassing nature of God. The presence of Christian symbolism here probably doesn’t represent an attempt to evangelize the barbarians, many of whom were already Christian. Rather, the recipient would have seen the cross as a symbol of the power of the empire.