Crown

(1.) Denotes the plate of gold in the front of the high priest's mitre (Ex. 29:6; 39:30). The same Hebrew word so rendered (ne'zer) denotes the diadem worn by Saul in battle (2 Sam. "1:10), and also that which was used at the coronation of Joash" (2 Kings 11:12). "(2.) The more general name in Hebrew for a crown is 'atarah, "meaning a "circlet." This is used of crowns and head ornaments" "of divers kinds, including royal crowns. Such was the crown" taken from the king of Ammon by David (2 Sam. 12:30). The crown "worn by the Assyrian kings was a high mitre, sometimes adorned" with flowers. There are sculptures also representing the crowns worn by the early Egyptian and Persian kings. Sometimes a diadem surrounded the royal head-dress of two or three fillets. This probably signified that the wearer had dominion over two or "three countries. In Rev. 12:3; 13:1, we read of "many crowns," a" token of extended dominion. "(3.) The ancient Persian crown (Esther 1:11; 2:17; 6:8) was "called kether; i.e., "a chaplet," a high cap or tiara. Crowns" were worn sometimes to represent honour and power (Ezek. 23:42). "They were worn at marriages (Cant. 3:11; Isa. 61:10," "ornaments; R.V., "a garland"), and at feasts and public" festivals. "The crown was among the Romans and Greeks a symbol of victory and reward. The crown or wreath worn by the victors in the Olympic games was made of leaves of the wild olive; in the "Pythian games, of laurel; in the Nemean games, of parsley; and" "in the Isthmian games, of the pine. The Romans bestowed the" civic crown on him who saved the life of a citizen. It was made of the leaves of the oak. In opposition to all these fading "crowns the apostles speak of the incorruptible crown, the crown" "of life (James 1:12; Rev. 2:10) "that fadeth not away" (1 Pet." "5:4, Gr. amarantinos; comp. 1:4). Probably the word "amaranth" "was applied to flowers we call "everlasting," the "immortal" "amaranth."

"Our Lord was crowned with a, in mockery by the Romans (Matt." 27:29). The object of Pilate's guard in doing this was probably "to insult, and not specially to inflict pain. There is nothing" "to show that the shrub thus used was, as has been supposed, the" "spina Christi, which could have been easily woven into a wreath." "It was probably the thorny nabk, which grew abundantly round" "about Jerusalem, and whose flexible, pliant, and round branches" could easily be platted into the form of a crown. (See "[136]THORN, 3.)"

Related Bible Dictionary Terms:
Crown of thorns