Papers of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (5.1886-1890)

136 GREEK CROWNS AND CROWN INSCRIPTIONS.

The great majority of these crowns appear as though the original
wreath had been made out of two pliable sprays or branches. The
lower woody ends of these branches are loosely twisted so that one
makes a complete revolution around the other, and the tips are then
brought together so that the whole forms, approximately, a circle. The
fillet (taenia) seems to have been the chief, as well as earliest, adjunct
of the crown, and emphasized its religious association. Thus, proba-
bly in consequence of the sacred character of the national games,
crowns given for victory in them are represented in the reliefs as bound
with a fillet. On the other hand, crowns conferred on ordinary occasions
by the State are always without the taenia. A few crowns awarded
to the dead, as for instance the crown given to some who died in the
Lamian war (C.I.A., ii, 1G81; plate x-2 and, according toBockk,
certain crowns given by religious associations are, like crowns of vic-
tory, also adorned with fillets. Even for crowns of victory the fillet
seems to lose its significance, and is sometimes omitted in the Roman
imperial period (Bull, de com hellen., x, 383; pl. x-3, in part).
The figured crowns differ greatly in their position. Some hang down,
so that the tips of their sprays are below the twisted stems (rL. x-2, 7,
etc.) and so appear as if suspended against the stone; others stand erect,
the tips of the sprays thus being uppermost (pl. x-3, 5, 6) and the
stem-ends downward. In the minor details of the carving there are
naturally many differences. The number of leaves that a crown may
have varies from twelve up to sixty or more. If the relief is low, the
leaves are represented in outline as if they rested flat on the stone.
When the relief is higher the leaves are sometimes shown in perspec-
tive, some being turned sidewise, or certain leaves may be represented
as slightly curled. If the crown has many leaves, they may be more or
less bunched together, and thus conceal the stem. In the more care-
fully designed wreaths, however, the stem is usually visible through-
out its length, or is concealed at only one or two points by leaves
lying directly upon it. A type peculiar to crowns of small size is that
in which the leaves appear in groups of three at cvciy node of the stem
(pl. x-10a, lie; Xi-27). Here the group or whorl is represented as
if flattened out so that the middle leaf of the three masks the stem.
When the leaves are all separate from one another and the stem is visi-
ble in its entire length, more leaves are usually cut on the outside of

1 The crowns figured on plates x, xi are phototype reproductions made from
squeezes of the reliefs. In every case the reduction is to ^th of the actual size.