The Spinario—a seated youth plucking a thorn from his foot—survives in a famous bronze now in Rome’s Capitoline Museum as well as numerous other ancient versions in diverse media. A popular genre figure created in the Hellenistic period (third to first centuries BC), it gained popularity in the Middles Ages and captivated Renaissance and later artists with its naturalistic pose. Originally an image with pastoral associations, the type came to have multiple associations: with the medieval calendar, with Christ’s passion, and even with the Temple in Jerusalem. This lecture explores the curious (and largely overlooked) appeal that the theme held for the patrons and artisans of the Middle Ages and examines the ways that medieval people engaged with the culture of antiquity, a period seen not as a distant past but part of their own rich cultural heritage.