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Mural crown
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A mural crown was an ancient Roman military decoration that later became a heraldic motif.
The Roman corona muralis (Latin: "walled crown") as used in antiquity was a golden crown, or a circle of gold intended to resemble a battlement, bestowed upon the soldier who first climbed the wall of a besieged city or fortress to successfully place the standard of the attacking army upon it.[1] The Roman mural crown was made of gold, and decorated with turrets[2], as is the heraldic version. Being one of the highest orders of military decorations, it was not awarded to a claimant until after a strict investigation [3].
The term is also used in heraldry to denote a crown modeled after the walls of a castle. In recent times, mural crowns have been used in opposition to royal crowns; they are typical of Italian medieval and modern Communes. A mural crown is a symbol of Italy. The coat of arms of the Second Spanish Republic had a mural crown. Most Portuguese municipal coats of arms contain a mural crown, with three towers signifying a village, four towers representing a town, and five towers standing for a city. Similarly, the Romanian municipal coats of arms contain a mural crown, with one or three towers for villages and communes, five and seven towers for towns and municipalities.
- ^ Aulus Gellius, Noctes Attici, V.6.4; Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, XXVI.48
- ^ muri pinnis according to Aulus Gellius
- ^ Livy. l.c.; cf. Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Augustus 25.
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