| This article is part of the series on: Military of ancient Rome (portal) 753 BC – AD 476 |
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| Structural history | |
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| Roman army (unit types and ranks, legions, auxiliaries, generals) | |
| Roman navy (fleets, admirals) | |
| Campaign history | |
| Lists of wars and battles | |
| Decorations and punishments | |
| Technological history | |
| Military engineering (castra, siege engines, arches, roads) | |
| Political history | |
| Strategy and tactics | |
| Infantry tactics | |
| Frontiers and fortifications (limes, Hadrian's Wall) |
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In Hellenistic culture, a mural crown identified the goddess Tyche, the embodiment of the fortune of a city, familiar to Romans as Fortuna. The high cylindrical polos of Cybele too could be rendered as a mural crown in Hellenistic times, specifically designating the Mother Goddess as patron of a city.[1]
The mural crown became an ancient Roman military decoration. The Roman corona muralis (Latin: "walled crown") 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.[2] The Roman mural crown was made of gold, and decorated with turrets,[3] as is the heraldic version. As it was among the highest order of military decorations, it was not awarded to a claimant until after a strict investigation.[4] The rostrata mural crown, composed of the rostra indicative of captured ships, was assigned as naval prize to the first in a boarding party, similar to the naval crown.
The Graeco-Roman goddess Roma's attributes on Greek coinage usually include her mural crown, signifying Rome's status as a loyal protector of Hellenic city-states.[5]
The Roman military decoration came to be employed in European heraldry, where the term is used to denote a crown modeled after the walls of a castle, which may be tinctured or, argent, gules, or proper, i.e. stone-coloured. In Germany, during the 19th century mural crowns (Mauerkronen) came to be adopted for the arms of cities, with increasingly specific details: "Residential (i.e. having a royal residence) cities and capital towns usually bear a Mauerkrone with five towers, large towns one with four towers, smaller towns one with three", observed Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, in A Complete Guide to Heraldry, adding "Strict regulations in the matter do not yet exist" and warning that the usage was not British.[6] Similarly, in recent times, mural crowns used, rather than royal crowns, for Italian medieval and modern communes. A mural-crowned lady, Italia Turrita, is a symbol of Italy. In Italy, communes and some provinces and military corps have a mural crown on their coat of arms, golden and with five towers for cities, silver and nine-towered for the others; also use it. The coat of arms of the Second Spanish Republic had a mural crown. Most Portuguese (and Brazilian) municipal coats of arms contain a mural crown, with three towers in modern usage 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.
After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I, the single-headed eagle of the coat of arms of Republic of Austria began to wear a mural crown in the place of the former royal Austrian and Hungarian crowns that adorned the double-headed eagle of former coat of arms.
Media related to Category:Mural crowns in heraldry at Wikimedia Commons
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