A radiant or radiate crown, also known as a solar crown, sun crown, Eastern crown, or tyrant's crown, is a crown, wreath, diadem, or other headgear symbolizing the Sun or more generally powers associated with the Sun. It comprises a number of narrowing bands going outwards from the wearer's head, to represent the rays of the Sun. These may be represented either as flat, on the same plane as the circlet of the crown, or rising at right angles to it.
Egyptian
In the iconography of
ancient Egypt, the solar crown is taken as a disc framed by the horns of a ram
or cow. It is worn by deities such as
Horus in his solar or hawk-headed form,
, and
Isis. It may also be worn by
.
In Ptolemaic Egypt, the solar crown could also be a radiate diadem, modeled after the type worn by Alexander the Great (as identified with the sun god Helios) in art from the mid-2nd century BC onward.
, wearing a tall feather crown and sun disk (715–664 BC)]]
of Isis wearing solar crown (664–343 BC)]]
==Solar crown of Helios==
, detail from a Roman sarcophagus, early 3rd century AD]]
Roman Empire
In the
Roman Empire, the solar crown was worn by
, especially in association with the cult of
Sol Invictus,
influenced also by radiate depictions of Alexander.
Although a radiate crown is shown on
Augustus in a posthumous coin issued after his deification, and on
Nero on at least one coin while he was alive, it only became common, and sometimes usual, on coins in the 3rd century. Histories record that
Gallienus, at least, wore an actual crown in public.
[ The World of Roman Costume, Eds Judith Lynn Sebesta, Larissa Bonfante, p.82, 2001, Univ of Wisconsin Press, , 9780299138547, google books] The solar crown worn by Constantine, the first emperor to convert to Christianity, was reinterpreted as representing the "
Holy Nails".
Later use
From the
Renaissance onward, the ancient Colossus of Rhodes, which was a statue of Helios, was often depicted with a radiate crown, although the statue's actual appearance is not known. The radiate crown became associated with Liberty personified, usually in a form of a circular disc with rays in different directions. The first appearance of Liberty in this guise may be in the Great Seal of France of 1848 and under subsequent
, and is best known from the Statue of Liberty (formally
Liberty Enlightening the World), a gift from France to the United States of America.
See also
-
Crown of justification
-
Crown of thorns
-
Crowns of Egypt
-
Halo
-
Horned deity
-
Taga in Mandaeism
Notes
