Grass Crown
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Template:RomanMilitary The Grass Crown (Template:Langx) or Blockade Crown (corona obsidionalis) was the highest and rarest of all military decorations in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire.[1] It was presented only to a general, commander, or officer whose actions saved a 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 grasses, flowers, and various cereals such as wheat; it was presented to the general by the army he had saved.[2]
History
Pliny wrote about the grass crown at some length in his Natural History (Naturalis Historia): Template:Quote
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)
- Lucius Cornelius 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)
See also
References
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External links
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