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Achaplet is aheaddress in the form of awreath made of leaves, flowers or twigs woven into a ring.[1] It is typically worn on festive occasions and on holy days. In ancient times a chaplet also served as acrown representingvictory orauthority.
In ancient times, chaplets made from branches and twigs of trees were worn by victors in sacred contests; these were known aspancarpiae.[2] Later, flowers were used to "heighten the effect" with their color and smell.[2] Glyccra challengedPausias to a contest where she would repeatedly vary her designs, and thus it was (asPliny the Elder described it) "in reality a contest between art and Nature". This invention is traced only to later than the100th Olympiad via Pausias paintings.[2] These "chaplets of flowers" became fashionable and evolved into theEgyptian chaplets usingivy,narcissus,pomegranate blossoms. According to Pliny,P. Claudius Pulcher[3]
In Chapter 5 ofNaturalis Historia, titled “The great honour in which chaplets were held by the ancients”,Pliny explains how these head dresses were perceived:
Chaplets, however, were always held in a high degree of estimation, those even which were acquired at the public games. For it was the usage of the citizens to go down in person to take part in the contests of theCircus, and to send their slaves and horses thither as well. Hence it is that we find it thus written in the laws of theTwelve Tables: "If any person has gained a chaplet himself, or by his money, let the same be given to him as the reward of his prowess." There is no doubt that by the words "gained by his money," the laws meant a chaplet which had been gained by his slaves or horses. Well then, what was the honour acquired thereby? It was the right secured by the victor, for himself and for his parents, after death, to be crowned without fail, while the body was laid out in the house, and on its being carried to the tomb.[4]
Pliny continues the explanation to describe the severity in which the rules of the wearing of the chaplets were enforced by the "ancients":
Pliny notes that the statue of Marsyas was a meeting place for courtesans, who used to crown it with chaplets of flowers.[6] He also notes that whenEmperorAugustus's daughterJulia placed a chaplet on the statue, she was acknowledging herself to be no better than a courtesan.[7]
The highest and rarest of allmilitary decorations in theRoman Republic and earlyRoman Empire was theGrass Crown (Latin:corona graminea) .[8] It was presented only to ageneral,commander, or officer whose actions saved alegion or the entire army. Examples of this would be a general who broke theblockade around beleagueredRoman troops. Thecrown took the form of a chaplet made from plant materials taken from the battlefield, includinggrasses,flowers, and variouscereals such aswheat, which was presented to the general by the army he had saved.[9]
Thecorona radiata, or "radiant crown" known best for adorning theStatue of Liberty, and perhaps worn by theHelios that was theColossus of Rhodes, was worn by Roman emperors as part of the cult ofSol Invictus prior to theRoman Empire's conversion toChristianity. It was referred to as "the chaplet studded with sunbeams” byLucian, about 180 AD.[10]
