Plants

Laurel wreath

The laurel wreath, the crown of Apollo and of victors: its meaning in Greek and Roman religion, its use at the Pythian games and in Roman triumphs, and its survival in modern honours.

Also called Bay wreath · Corona laurea

In brief

I.The laurel, or bay tree, was sacred to Apollo, god of music, prophecy and light.
II.Winners of the Pythian games at Delphi were crowned with laurel.
III.Roman generals celebrating a triumph wore a laurel wreath.
IV.It survives in words such as “laureate” and in many emblems.

Chapter I

What it means

The laurel stands for victory and honour, and for the god Apollo. At Delphi, Apollo’s great sanctuary, the winners of the Pythian games, held in his honour, received crowns of its leaves.

A wreath is a circle without end, and to wear one was to be marked out by the gods. For poets and musicians, servants of Apollo, the laurel meant inspiration as well as victory.

Chapter II

Where it comes from

The Pythian games at Delphi awarded laurel crowns from the 6th century BCE. In Rome a general who won a great war rode through the city in a triumph wearing a laurel wreath, and emperors were often shown with laurel crowns on coins and statues.

The custom of crowning poets with laurel was revived in the Middle Ages: Petrarch was crowned on the Capitol in Rome in 1341.

Chapter III

Where you see it today

The word laureate, as in Nobel laureate or poet laureate, means “crowned with laurel”. Laurel or olive branches appear on many coats of arms, seals and sports medals.

Questions people ask

Why was laurel sacred to Apollo?

In the myth told by the Roman poet Ovid, the nymph Daphne fled from Apollo and was turned into a laurel tree. Apollo made the tree his own and wore its leaves.

Were Olympic winners crowned with laurel?

No. At Olympia the prize was a wreath of wild olive. Laurel was the prize at Delphi.

Sources and further reading

Walter Burkert, Greek Religion (Harvard University Press, 1985)
J. C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols (Thames & Hudson, 1978)
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Religious symbolism and iconography”

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