Grass Crown
The Grass Crown or Blockade Crown 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 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.
History
wrote about the grass crown at some length in his Natural History :Pliny also lists the persons who by their deeds won the grass crown:
- Lucius Siccius Dentatus
- Publius Decius Mus
- Marcus Calpurnius Flamma
- Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus
- Scipio Aemilianus
- Gnaeus Petreius Atinas
- Lucius Cornelius Sulla
- Augustus