Crown. Magna Grecia, IV-III BC. Gold leaf. Soul in gold of the modern period. Provenance: private collection. Measurements: 3 cm (front); 11,5 cm (diameter) Crown made with gold leaf-shaped worked gold sheets. In Ancient Greece, wreaths used to represent branches of laurel, myrtle, oak and olive, all symbolic of the ideals and morals held among the Greeks, such as wisdom, triumph, fertility, peace and virtue. The wreaths, made of gold leaf, are especially fragile, so they were used on special occasions or dedicated to the gods and placed as offerings on the tombs of the aristocratic classes in antiquity. The laurel wreath was usually the one given as a reward to poets (poet laureate), sportsmen and warriors. It consisted of a hedge of branches, being at first of laurel (hence in Latin: lavr?a), but then being made of gold. As for the olive wreath, also known as kotinos, it was originally the only prize awarded to the winner of each of the trials of the Ancient Olympic Games. It was an olive branch, cut by a teenager with a golden sickle from a sacred wild olive tree of the Altis growing in Olympia, near the Temple of Zeus, whose intertwined leaves form a circle or horseshoe. Dimensions 3 cm (front); 11,5 cm (diameter)