Wreath with oak leaves

A wreath of nine oak leaves fashioned from fine hammered gold sheet and threaded onto gold wire together with a pierced carnelian bead. The fact that the leaves have not been soldered to the wire but are simply threaded on to it makes it difficult to ascertain whether they actually belonged to the same ornament or were put together at a later stage. Nonetheless, their uniformity suggests that they were part of the same ensemble. The overwhelming majority of extant gold wreaths come from graves. Their fine craftsmanship leaves no doubt that they were intended exclusively for the adornment of the dead. This custom is known already from Archaic times, but became particularly popular in the Hellenistic period, especially in northern Greece (Macedonia, Thrace).For the ancient Greeks the wreath symbolized a prize for victory in a contest and was associated with festivities and triumphs. Its occurrence in burials may be related to new beliefs that appeared in Hellenistic times: life was treated as a trial that the dead had passed successfully and consequently was entitled to claim the prize of eternity. Gold wreaths are frequently found in graves of rulers and other eminent members of society. Nonetheless the comparatively wide availability of gold in Hellenistic times - when the roads to the gold-rich East were wide open - meant that wider social strata had access to the noble metal.