Corona Civica
The corona civica, the civic crown of oak leaves, was Rome's highest honour for a citizen soldier, awarded to the man who saved a fellow citizen's life in battle and held the ground where he did it; Pliny the Elder in the Natural History and Aulus Gellius in the Attic Nights describe its rules. Woven from holm, esculent, or common oak, it was granted by the rescued man himself, who was bound to honour his saviour as a parent, and the crown carried with it the right to wear it for life, to sit with the senators at the games, and to be free of many burdens; its inscription 'ob cives servatos', '