Diadēma
（
διάδημα). The white fillet round the brow which was the
emblem of sovereignty from the time of Alexander the Great. Caesar refused it when offered him
by Antonius, and it was not,
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Diadema on Heads of Seleucus II., King of Syria (left-hand figure), and of Ptolemaeus
II., King of Egypt (right-hand figure). (Coins in British Museum.)
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in consequence, worn by the Roman emperors, except in a few cases. But when the seat
of government was removed to Byzantium, Constantine adopted the Greek emblem of royalty
(Aurel. Vict. 41).
Before the diadem was worn by the Roman emperors as a symbol of sovereignty, it was used as
a head-dress by Roman women (
Orig. xix. 31).
