Pendilia (singular pendilium; from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

''pendulus'', hanging) or pendoulia (the Greek equivalent), are

pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ' ...

s or dangling ornaments hanging from a piece of metalwork such as a

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

votive crown A votive crown is a votive offering in the form of a crown, normally in precious metals and often adorned with jewels. Especially in the Early Middle Ages, they are of a special form, designed to be suspended by chains at an altar, shrine or im ...

crux gemmata A ''crux gemmata'' (Latin for jewelled cross) is a form of cross typical of Early Christian and Early Medieval art, where the cross, or at least its front side, is principally decorated with jewels. In an actual cross, rather than a painted image ...

, or

kamelaukion A kalimavkion ( el, καλυμμαύχιον), kalymmavchi (καλυμμαύχι), or, by metathesis of the word's internal syllables, kamilavka (russian: камилавка), is a clerical headdress worn by Orthodox Christian and Eastern Catho ...

, and are a feature of Early Medieval

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

work. On crosses the pendilia may include the letters

alpha and omega Alpha (Α or α) and omega (Ω or ω) are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and a title of Christ and God in the Book of Revelation. This pair of letters is used as a Christian symbol, and is often combined with the Cross, Chi-r ...

, and on votive offerings, which were often designed to be hung over altars and where pendilia are at their largest and most spectacular, they may spell out whole words (see illustration). The term is commonly used in

coin collecting Coin collecting is the collecting of coins or other forms of minted legal tender. Coins of interest to collectors often include those that were in circulation for only a brief time, coins with mint errors, and especially beautiful or historic ...

. Pendilia are depicted on coins as jewels or pearls hanging from the sides of the crown, and occur frequently on coins of

Byzantine emperors This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as ...

. The pendilia which hung from the Emperors' crowns began with

Marcian Marcian (; la, Marcianus, link=no; grc-gre, Μαρκιανός, link=no ; 392 – 27 January 457) was Roman emperor of the East from 450 to 457. Very little of his life before becoming emperor is known, other than that he was a (personal a ...

. Although the years saw the styles of crown change, the pendilia remained, at least through Manuel II Palaiologos. Surviving crowns with pendilia include the

Holy Crown of Hungary The Holy Crown of Hungary ( hu, Szent Korona; sh, Kruna svetoga Stjepana; la, Sacra Corona; sk, Svätoštefanská koruna , la, Sacra Corona), also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, named in honour of Saint Stephen I of Hungary, was the c ...

and many votive crowns of the

Treasure of Guarrazar The Treasure of Guarrazar, Guadamur, Province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain, is an archeological find composed of twenty-six votive crowns and gold crosses that had originally been offered to the Roman Catholic Church by the Kings ...

from

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...

Spain. The historical origin of the pendilies is largely in the dark, they are extremely rare on early pieces of jewelry (exception: diadem from the treasure of Priam ). A protective, possibly also fastening function is possible on helmets on the other hand, they could originally have had a veiling function especially with women. The fact that they attract glances could also be related to disaster-defensive ideas. Another possibility would be that they come from the end pieces of headbands hanging down at the neck of Hellenistic tiara and royal bandages.

Literature

* Thomas Heller: ''The imperial regalia with special consideration of the imperial crown.'' GRIN-Verlag, Munich 2010, , p. 10 f. * Hermann Fillitz : ''Origin and Change of the Imperial Crown.'' In: Tobias Frese, Annette Hoffmann, Katharina Bull (eds.): ''Habitus. Norm and transgression in text and images. Festival for Lieselotte E. Saurma-Jeltsch.'' Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2011, {{ISBN, 978-3-05-005094-2 , pp. 259-264. Numismatics Types of jewellery Medieval art Crown jewels Crux gemmata Votive offering