Grass Crown

 ( Military Awards And Decorations Of Ancient Rome ) 

The Grass Crown () or Blockade Crown ( corona obsidionalis) was the highest and rarest of all military decorations in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire.

It was presented only to a general, commander, or officer whose actions saved a Roman legion or the entire army. One example of actions leading to awarding of a grass crown would be a general who broke the blockade around a beleaguered Roman army. The crown took the form of a chaplet made from plant materials taken from the battlefield, including , , and various such as wheat; it was presented to the general by the army he had saved.

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History Pliny wrote about the grass crown at some length in his Natural History ( Naturalis Historia):

Pliny also lists the persons who by their deeds won the grass crown:

• Lucius Siccius Dentatus
• Publius Decius Mus (received two grass crowns—one from his own army, and another from the surrounded troops he had rescued)
• Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (presented by "the Senate and people" after Hannibal had been expelled from Italy)
• Marcus Calpurnius Flamma (during the First Punic War)
• Scipio Aemilianus (in 148 BC in Africa)
• Gnaeus Petreius Atinas (a primus pilus centurion during the Cimbrian War)
• Sulla (during the Social War at Nola, according to his own memoirs)
• Augustus (the crown was presented by the Roman Senate as a political homage rather than a military award)

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See also

• Camp crown
• Mural crown
• Civic crown
• Naval crown
• Laurel wreath
• Chaplet (headgear)

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External links

• Corona

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