Origins of the papal tiara Origins of the papal tiara The origins of the Papal Tiara remain somewhat nebulous and clouded in mystery. The word "tiara" itself occurs in the classical annals to denote a Persian headdress, particularly that of the "great king." A "camelaucum" which was similar in shape to papal tiaras, was part of court dress in Byzantium. Given that other rituals associated with the Papal Coronation, notably the use of the sedia gestatoria, were copied from Byzantine and eastern imperial ceremonial, it is likely that the tiara is also of Byzantine origin. A form of papal crown is first mentioned in the
Ekaterina Sedia currently teaches plant ecology and botany at Stockton College and lives with her husband Christopher Sedia and their cats. In her spare time, she blogs about fashion, food, cats, books, television, and feminism. Ekaterina Sedia attended Moscow State University. She then moved to Boston and worked at MIT’s department of brain and cognitive sciences as a research assistant. After that she moved to New Jersey and went to graduate school at Rutgers University-Camden, which is where she got her degree in ecology and evolution in 2001. Today she works at Stockton University teaching plant ecology and evolution. In this story