The heads of Saints didn't really glow as is so often portrayed in
religious art. The use of the halo, or nimbus, originated with the
pagan Greeks and Romans to represent their sun god, Helios. Later
artists adopted it for use in Christian images.
Since the most ancient times, the sun has been a favorite "god" or god
symbol of pagan people all around the world. The Babylonians,
Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all had their sun gods. The
native peoples of North and South America widely practiced sun
worship, as did their Asian ancestors. The Europeans too were deeply
involved in sun worship, and many of their sun-god festivals were
carried over when they professed conversion to Christianity.
Helios was represented as a youth with a halo, standing in a chariot,
occasionally with a billowing robe. A metope from the temple of Athena
in the Hellenistic Ilium represents him thus. He is also shown on more
recent reliefs, concerning the worship of Mithra, such as in the
Mithraeum under the St. Prisca at Rome. In early Christian art, Christ
is sometimes represented as Helios, such as in a mosaic in Mausoleum M
or in the necropolis beneath the St. Peter in Rome.
idol worship knows no bounds.
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