Wreaths and crowns in antiquity

In classical and late antiquity wreaths or crowns (Ancient Greek: στέφανος, romanized: stéphanos, lit.

As well as being awarded for merit and military conduct, they were worn by orators, priests performing sacrifices, by the chorus in ancient Greek drama, and by attendees of a symposium.

In Classical Greece, gold crowns were commonly sent – and recorded in inscriptions – as tribute to the renowned shrines of Delos and Athens by members of the Delian League.

[1] Wreaths were sacred objects, and removing one and disposing of it could not be done casually or without due reverence, neither could an unauthorized person wear one without committing sacrilege.

[1][14] A wreath might be left as a token of love on the door of the object of one's affections on the night-time ritual procession that followed (a komos), as in the Palatine Anthology and in the work of Theocritus.

At the Pythian Games at Delphi, also held every four years, the bay laurel Laurus nobilis – sacred to Apollo – was used for the crowns awarded.

At Nemea, a crown of wild celery was awarded to the victor at the Nemean Games, held every two years in honour of Heracles (Hercules) and Zeus.

In honour of Poseidon (Neptune), every two years at Isthmia on the Isthmus of Corinth a crown of pine was awarded at the Isthmian Games, though according to Pliny the Elder's encyclopaedic Natural History, the prize was originally a wreath of celery, as at Nemea.

Generals awarded a lesser celebration ritual, the ovation (Latin: ovatio) wore wreaths of myrtle (Myrtus communis).

This award was extremely rare, and Pliny the Elder enumerated only eight times occasions that had warranted the honour, ending with the emperor Augustus.

[20] The oak leaf civic crown (Latin: corona civica) was awarded to Romans who had saved the life of another citizen in battle.

[20] In an assault on a fortified position, a mural crown (Latin: corona muralis) was awarded to the first man onto the walls of the enemy fortification.

[21] According to Pliny the Elder, the Arval Brethren, an ancient Roman priesthood, were accustomed to wear a wreath of grain sheaves.

[21] Constantine began the practice of wearing a diadem on coinage, hitherto avoided by the Romans and a symbol of the kingdoms of the Hellenistic period.

[21] Emperors were frequently shown crowned by Victory or another protective deity on their coinage and medallions, and later this function was performed by the hand of God (Latin: Dexter Dei).