Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Corona

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CORO'NA (στέφανος, κορωνίς). A wreath, garland, or chaplet, made of real or artificial flowers, leaves, &c., worn as an ornament upon the head; but not as a crown in our sense of the word, i. e. as an emblem of royalty; for amongst the ancients, a diadem (diadema) occupied the place of the modern crown. Of these there were a great many varieties, distinguished by the different materials or the designs in which they were made, and chiefly employed as rewards for public virtue, or ornaments for festive occasions. Under these two divisions, the principal coronae are enumerated in the following paragraphs: —

1. Corona triumphalis. The triumphal crown; of which there were three several kinds. (1.) A wreath of laurel leaves without the berries (Aul. Gell. v. 6. 1. Plin. H. N. xv. 39.), worn by the general during his triumph in the manner shown by the annexed bust (Corona/1.1) of Antoninus, from an engraved gem. This being esteemed the most honourable of the three, was expressely designated laurea insignis. (Liv. vii. 13.) (2.) A crown of gold made in imitation of laurel leaves, which was held over the head of the general during the triumph by a public officer (servus publicus, Juv. x. 41.) appointed for the purpose, and in the manner shown by the illustration (Corona/1.2), from a bas-relief on the Arch of Titus, representing that emperor in his triumphal car at the procession for the conquest of Jerusalem, in which a winged figure of Victory poetically performs the part of the public officer. (3.) A crown of gold, and of considerable value, but merely sent as a present to the general who had obtained a triumph (Plut. Paul. Aemil. 34.), from the different provinces, whence it is expressely called provincialis. Tertull. Coron. Mil. 13.

2. Corona ovalis. A chaplet of myrtle worn by a general who had obtained the honour of an ovation. Aul. Gell. v. 6. Festus, s. v.

3. Corona oleagina. A wreath of olive leaves, which was conferred upon the soldiery, as well as their commanders, and was appropriated as a reward for those through whose counsels or instrumentality a triumph had been obtained, though they were not themselves present in the action. Aul. Gell. v. 6.

4. Corona obsidionalis. A garland of grass and wild flowers, whence also termed graminea (Liv. vii. 37.), gathered on the spot where a Roman army had been besieged, and presented by that army to the commander who had come to their relief, and broken the siege. Though the least in point of value, this was regarded as the most honourable of all the military rewards, and the most difficult to be obtained. Aul. Gell. v. 6. Festus, s. v. Plin. xxii. 4.

5. Corona civicia. The civic crown; a chaplet of oak leaves with the acorns, presented to the Roman soldier who had saved the life of a comrade in battle, and slain his opponent. It was originally presented by the rescued comrade, and latterly by the emperor. (Plin. H. N. xvi. 3. Aul. Gell. v. 6. Tac. Ann. xv. 12.) The illustration (Corona/5.1) is from a painting at Pompeii, representing a young warrior with the civic wreath.

6. Corona muralis. The mural crown; decorated with the towers and turrets of a battlement, and given as a reward of valour to the soldier who was first in scaling the walls of a besieged city. (Liv. xxvi. 48. Aul. Gell. v. 6.) The character of this crown is known from the representations of the goddess Cybele, to whom it was ascribed by poets and artists, in order to typify the cities of the earth over which she presided. (Lucret. ii. 607 — 610. Ov. Fast. iv. 219.) The example (Corona/6.1) is from a bas-relief found in a sepulchre near Rome.

7. Corona castrensis, or vallaris. A crown of gold, ornamented with palisades (vallum), and bestowed upon the soldier who first surmounted the stockade, and forced an entrance into an enemy's camp. (Aul. Gell. v. 6. Val. Max. i. 8. 6.) Of this no authentic specimen exists.

8. Corona classica, navalis, or rostrata. A chaplet of gold designed to imitate the beaks of ships (rostra), and presented to the admiral who had destroyed a hostile fleet, and, perhaps, also to the sailor who was the first to board an enemy's vessel. (Paterc. ii. 81. Virg. Aen. viii. 684. Plin. H. N. It is represented in the annexed wood-cut (Corona/8.1), on the head of Agrippa, from a bronze medal.

9. Corona radiata. The radiated crown; set round with projecting rays, and properly assigned to the gods or deified heroes; whence it was generally assumed by the Roman emperors, and by some other persons who affected the attributes of divinity. (Stat. Theb. 1. 28.) Its character is shown in the annexed illustration (Corona/9.1), on the head of Augustus, from one of the Marlborough gems.

10. Corona pactilis, plectilis, or plexilis. A festive garland worn merely as an ornament round the head, and composed of natural flowers with their leves adhering to the stalks, by which they were twisted and twined together, as in the annexed illustration (Corona/10.1), representing a personification of Spring, from a marble bas-relief. Plin. H. N. xxi. 8. Aul. Gell. xviii. 2. Plaut. Bacch. 1. 1. 37.

11. Corona sutilis. An ornamental garland for the head, made of flowers plucked from their stalks, and sewed together. It was the one worn by the Salii at their festivals; and was originally composed of flowers of any description, but subsequently of the rose alone, the choicest leaves being selected from each blossom, and then sewn together. (Plin. H. N. xxi. 8.) It is represented in the annexed engraving (Corona/11.1), on the head of a Roman empress, from an engraved gem.

12. Corona natalitia. A wreath of laurel, ivy, or parsely, which the Romans were in the custom of suspending over the door of a house in which a birth had taken place, in the same way as the natives of Holland put up a rosette of lace upon similar occasions. Bartholin. de Puerp. p. 127. Compare Juv. Sat. ix. 85.

13. Corona longa (ὑποθυμίς, ὑποθυμιάς). A long wreath or festoon of flowers hung over the neck and chest, in the same way as the rosary, of which it was the probable original, the rosary being still called "la corona" by the modern Italians; but, amongst the Greeks and Romans, it appears to have been more particularly employed as a festive decoration, and was used to ornament buildings as well as persons. (Ovid. Fast. iv. 738. Cic. Leg. ii. 24.) The illustration (Corona/13.1) is from an ivory carving in the Florentine Gallery, supposed to represent M. Antony in the costume of a follower of Bacchus, and resembles exactly the description which Cicero gives of Verres, with a chaplet on his head, and a garland round his neck — ipse autem coronam habebat unam in capite, alteram in collo. Verr. ii. 5. 11.

14. A cornice, or projecting member, used to decorate walls, either as a finish on the top (see the next illustration), or for the purpose of making ornamental divisions on any part of the surface. Vitruv. v. 2. Id. vii. 3. 4. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 59.

15. A particular member of the cornice, which crowns (Corona/15.1) an entablature under the roof, still called by our architects the corona. It is that particular member which has a broad flat face situated between the cyma recta above, and the cymatium, or bed moulding, below, from which it has a bold projection. (Vitruv. iv. 3. 6.) The Roman architects, unlike ours, do not appear to have appropriated any distinct word to express collectively all the members of which a cornice is composed; consequently, they did not regard the cornice as an entire portion of an entablature, but as several distinct members, which are always enumerated separately: viz. the sima; cymatium in summo; corona; cymatium in imo. Hesychius, however, uses the Greek κορωνίς in a collective sense, as equivalent to our cornice.

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  Corona/1.1
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  Corona/1.2
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  Corona/5.1
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  Corona/6.1
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  Corona/8.1
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  Corona/9.1
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  Corona/10.1
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  Corona/11.1
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  Corona/13.1
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  Corona/15.1