The plant crowns of the Panhellenic Games: pine, celery and glory

In ancient Greece the four great sacred games, held at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea and on the Isthmus of Corinth, were called stephanitic, that is, "crown games". The prize for the winner was not money or a precious object, but a simple crown of leaves. Each sanctuary had its own plant, and each carried a myth and a meaning. Looking at them together helps us understand how the Greeks thought about the relationship between victory, divinity and the plant world.

The four games at a glance

The four games followed one another in a cycle that allowed athletes to take part in all of them. Whoever won at each of them gained extraordinary prestige.

Olympia: the sacred wild olive

At Olympia the crown was made of wild olive, cut from a sacred tree growing in the sanctuary of Zeus. Ancient sources report that the branches were cut with a golden sickle by a boy whose parents were both alive: a detail that stresses the purity and fullness of life required for the gesture.

Delphi: Apollo's laurel

At the Pythian Games, in honour of Apollo, the crown was of laurel, the god's plant linked to the myth of Daphne. Laurel joined athletic victory to poetic and musical victory, since contests in song and music were also held at Delphi.

Nemea: celery and mourning

The crown of the Nemean Games was of wild celery, fresh and green. At first sight it is a surprising prize: a common plant, almost a garden vegetable. But its meaning becomes clear when we look at the founding myth.

According to tradition, the games at Nemea were instituted as funeral games in memory of a child, Opheltes, who died from a snakebite while his nurse was showing a spring to warriors marching against Thebes. The games were thus born of mourning, and the plant that crowned them had a link with the world of the dead.

The celery of the dead

In the Greek world celery was in fact associated with funeral rites and was used to adorn tombs. An ancient saying held that a gravely ill man "now needed only celery", meaning he was close to death. The victor at Nemea thus wore on his brow a plant that recalled the fragility of life, at the very moment of his greatest vigour.

The Isthmus: pine and celery

The Isthmian Games, devoted to Poseidon, were held near Corinth. These too had a funerary origin: myth linked them to Melicertes, a boy who died at sea and was deified. The crown was of pine, a tree that grew abundantly on the coast and recalled the sea and ships. In some periods, according to the sources, the pine was replaced by a crown of dried celery, before coming back into use. Plutarch devoted one of his table talks to this alternation.

The Persians' amazement

Herodotus tells an episode that shows how much this custom struck foreigners. During the Persian invasion, some deserters reported that the Greeks were celebrating the games at Olympia. Asked what the prize was, they answered: a crown of olive. One of the Persian nobles then exclaimed in dismay that they had come to fight against men who competed not for money but for excellence.

Symbolic reading

Maestro Cornelio stresses that the stephanitic crowns teach the difference between value and price. The leaf withers, and for that very reason it cannot be hoarded or sold: its worth lies entirely in the meaning the community gives it.

Each crown adds a nuance:

• wild olive recalls purity and the bond with Zeus;
• laurel unites glory and inspiration;
• celery reminds us that victory lives alongside death;
• pine ties triumph to the sea and to Poseidon's power.

In short

• The four great Greek games rewarded winners with plant crowns.
• Olympia used wild olive, Delphi laurel, Nemea celery, the Isthmus pine.
• Nemea's celery was tied to funeral rites and to the mournful origin of the games.
• Herodotus reports the Persian amazement at a contest fought for a crown of leaves.
• The crowns teach the difference between symbolic value and material price.