Because of its pagan origin, the form was avoided in early Christian art, but a simple circular nimbus was adopted by Christian emperors for their official portraits.įrom the middle of the fourth century, Christ was portrayed with this imperial attribute, and depictions of His symbol, the Lamb of God, also displayed halos. In Hellenistic and Roman art, the sun-god, Helios, and Roman emperors often appear with a crown of rays. However, interestingly enough, before the time of Christ, this symbol had already been used by not only the Hellenistic Greeks in 300 B.C., but also by the Buddhists as early as the first century A.D. As a result, these people came to believe that adopting such a nimbus or halo transformed them into a kind of divine being. The halo of feathers upon their heads symbolized the circle of light that distinguished the shining divinity or god in the sky. Many centuries before Christ, natives decorated their heads with a crown of feathers to represent their relationship with the sun god. With it not being found in the Bible, the halo is both pagan and non-Christian in its origin. Sometimes, especially in the East, crowns are used instead of halos, but the meaning is the same: holiness, innocence, and spiritual power. In fact, halos are found in art forms all over the world. Most commonly, Jesus and the Virgin Mary are shown with halos, along with the angels. Essentially, it was used to mark a figure as being in the kingdom of light. By the fourth century, the halo had become widely used in standard Christian art. Because of its shape and color, the halo was also associated with the sun and resurrection. This depicted a sphere of light radiating from the head of the person, suggesting that the subject was in a mystical state or sometimes just very smart. In art, halos originally appeared as disks of gold sketched upon the head of a figure. Many ancient societies, including the Egyptians, Indians and Romans, used a circular sign to suggest supernatural forces, such as angels, at work. It was on these floors that oxen moved round and round in a continuous circle on the ground, making a circular path in the shape we now associate with halos. Interestingly, the word “halo” comes from the Greek word for a threshing floor. Since halos are found nowhere in the Bible, what is their origin in Christianity? Traditionally, the halo represents a radiant light around or above the head of a divine or sacred person. A halo, also called a nimbus, is a geometric shape, usually in the form of a disk, circle, ring, or rayed structure.
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