Literature

In Ancient Greece, wreaths were awarded as prizes for military, athletic and artistic victories, to reward public service, and as votive offerings to honour the gods or the dead. They were made chiefly of leaves such as oak, myrtle, laurel, and ivy, though celery was used at the Nemean Games. Gold wreaths of this type were meant to imitate such wreaths of real leaves but in a more durable and precious material for posterity. Sanctuary dedications are mentioned in temple treasury lists from as early as the 5th century BC, but surviving examples are few prior to the 4th century BC (see pp. 123-124 in R. Higgins, Greek and Roman Jewellery, Berkeley, 1980). The meaning of the different plant species employed for these wreaths is uncertain, but in the case of oak, there is a clear association with Zeus.

Elaborate gold oak wreaths have been found in the Royal Tombs at Aigai (Vergina), including one placed within the gold larnax thought to have enclosed the remains of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great (see pl. 137 in M. Andronicos, Vergina, The Royal Tombs and the Ancient City, 1984), and another found in situ on the shoulders of a silver funerary hydria in the nearby so-called 'Prince’s Tomb' (pl. 184 in Andronicos, op. cit.). P. Adams-Veleni notes (pp. 102-103 in C.A. Picon and S. Hemingway, (eds.), Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World, New York, 2016), 'Indeed, rather than a privilege of the gods, such wreaths were common among wealthy mortals, whom they accompanied after death to the eternal symposium in the beyond.'

Oak wreaths dated to the later 4th century BC have been found throughout the Hellenistic world, east and west. See for example, the splendid wreath from the Dardanelles, now in the British Museum, acc. no. 1908,0414.1 (no. 60 in D. Williams and J. Ogden, Greek Gold: Jewellery of the Classical World, London, 1994), and one from Armento in South Italy, now in Munich (pl. 23 in Higgins, op. cit.). For other close parallels, see the examples at the Benaki Museum ΓΕ 1564 and Memorial Art Gallery (University of Rochester) 1999.57.

Wreaths are also to be found on depictions of victorious athletes, including statues, coins and gems, although depending on the scale of the image, it is not always possible to identify the type of wreath intended (see pp. 145-162, and especially no. 156, a Hellenistic carnelian ring stone with an athlete holding a wreath, and fig. 9, a bronze figure of an athlete wearing a wreath, in J.J. Herrmann and C. Kondoleon, Games for the Gods, The Greek Athlete and The Olympic Spirit, Boston, 2004).