Coronation

A coronation is a ceremony marking the investment of a monarch with regal power through, amongst other symbolic acts, the placement of a crown upon his or her head. Where the monarch is anointed, the ritual may have religious significance. Coronation has been little practised in recent years, although it remains the norm for the formal installation of the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In Antiquity

The shahs of the Achaemenid Persian empire were crowned with the diadem by a high priest of the Zoroasterian religion.

Related Topics:
Persian empire - Diadem - Zoroasterian religion

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The Roman Emperors, traditionally acclaimed either by the senate or by a legion speaking for the armies as a whole, were confirmed by the other body, without a coronation. The Eastern diadem was introduced by Constantine the Great. In theory the Imperial crown should be imposed by a representative of those who conferred the sovereign authority that it symbolised. And in the 4th century the Prefect Sallustius Secundus crowned Valentinian I (in whose election he had taken the prominent part). But the Emperor seems to have felt some hesitation in receiving the diadem from the hands of a subject, and the selection for the office was likely to cause jealousy. Yet a formality was necessary. In the fifth century the difficulty was overcome in an ingenious and tactful way. The duty of coronation was assigned to the Patriarch of Constantinople, possibly at the coronation of Marcian (AD 450), but certainly at the coronation of his successor Leo (457) (Bury 1923).

Related Topics:
Legion - Constantine the Great - Valentinian I - Patriarch of Constantinople - Marcian - Leo

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