Kritonios Crown
Ancient crown
The Kritonios Crown is an ancient ornate golden crown or wreath dating to the 4th century BC. It was discovered in 1814 in the tomb of a man named Kritonios in Armento, Italy. The crown is now in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany.
A twig of oak forms the base, from which elements with chalices of blue enamel protrude, with intertwined patterns of convolvulus, narcissus, ivy, roses, and myrtle. The top features an image of a winged goddess. The pedestal on which the goddess stands bears the Greek inscription ΚΡΕΙΘΩΝΙΟΣ ΗΘΗΚΗ ΤΟΝ ΕΤΗΦΑΝΟΝ (Kritonios dedicated this crown). Four male genii and two draped female figures float over the flowers, pointing towards the goddess. The errors in the inscription on the crown indicate the work of a Lucanian artist who studied at Heraclea or Taranto.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kritonios Crown” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.