<P> A halo (from Greek ἅλως, halōs; also known as a nimbus, aureole, glory, or gloriole) is a crown of light rays, circle or disk of light that surrounds a person in art . They have been used in the iconography of many religions to indicate holy or sacred figures, and have at various periods also been used in images of rulers or heroes . In the sacred art of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, among other religions, sacred persons may be depicted with a halo in the form of a circular glow, or flames in Asian art, around the head or around the whole body--this last one is often called a mandorla . Halos may be shown as almost any color or combination of colors, but are most often depicted as golden, yellow or white when representing light or red when representing flames . </P> <P> Homer describes a more - than - natural light around the heads of heroes in battle . Depictions of Perseus in the act of slaying Medusa, with lines radiating from his head, appear on a white - ground toiletry box in the Louvre and on a slightly later red - figured vase in the style of Polygnotos, ca . 450 - 30 BC, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art . On painted wares from south Italy, radiant lines or simple haloes appear on a range of mythic figures: Lyssa, a personification of madness; a sphinx; a sea demon; and Thetis, the sea - nymph who was mother to Achilles . The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the sun - god Helios and had his usual radiate crown (copied for the Statue of Liberty). Hellenistic rulers are often shown wearing radiate crowns that seem clearly to imitate this effect . </P>

The halo in a middle ages painting to indicate a subject is holy is a