Nimbus

(Lat. nimbus, a bright or black cloud). In Christian art, a disc or plate, commonly golden, sometimes red, blue, or green, or banded like a rainbow, placed vertically behind the heads of persons of special dignity or sanctity as a symbol of honour. After the 8th century living persons were, in Italy, distinguished by a square nimbus, which sometimes a umed the form of a scroll partly unrolled. The nimbus is of heathen origin. Virgil describes Juno as “nimbo succinct a.” The heads of the statues of the gods, and the Roman emperors, after they began to claim divine honours, were decorated with a crown of rays. On medals of the Christian emperors also the nimbus is found, e.g. Const an tine. In illuminated MSS. it is found on Pharaoh, Ahab, and other kings. It is a familiar symbol of dignity or power in the East, but does not appear as a Christian emblem before the 6th century. [See the article Nimbus in the Dict. of Christian Antiquities.] (See Aureole, Glory, Vesica Piscis, .)