Lady with the inverted diadem found in Archaic cemetery

"A excavation on the eastern slopes of the dried Lake Kopaida in central Greece has unearthed a rich Early Archaic-era burial of a noble woman wearing an upside-down bronze diadem. The burial dates to the second half of the 7th century B.C., a period when the power of ancestral hereditary kingship in Boeotia was waning while the nobility's was on the rise. Her diadem was symbolic of the new power of the non-monarchical elites."

"The band of the diadem is embossed with pairs of male and female lions facing each other, symbols of royal authority. The crown was placed upside-down, so the lions are on their backs. This likely symbolized the fall of a monarch, in this case dethroned by death. She was buried with a multitude of other valuable objects, including two oversized bronze brooches of the Boeotian type, ornamented with stylized geometric horses, a necklace with a large central vase-shaped amulet, bone and ivory beads."

"Archaeologists with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Phthiotis and Evrytania have been carrying out a rescue excavation in advance of construction of a photovoltaic park. They have so far unearthed 40 graves from the Archaic and Classical periods. Different types of burials, including pit graves, burial pyres and graves with tile roofs, were found grouped in clusters. The lady with the diadem was found in a cluster of three pit graves."

Rescue excavations on the eastern slopes of the dried Lake Kopaida in central Greece uncovered 40 Archaic and Classical graves during photovoltaic park construction. The richest find is an Early Archaic burial dated to the second half of the 7th century B.C. A noble woman aged 20–30 wore a banded bronze diadem with a central rosette and lion motifs; the diadem was placed upside-down. The inverted crown likely symbolized the fall of a monarch and the rise of non-monarchical elites. The burial included oversized Boeotian bronze brooches, a large vase-shaped amulet, bone and ivory beads, copper earrings, a bracelet, and spiral rings. Another nearby pit grave contained a bronze diadem belonging to a young girl.

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