Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

AUREOLA, AUREOLE (diminutive of Lat. ...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 924 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

AUREOLA, AUREOLE (diminutive of See also:Lat. See also:aura, See also:air) , the radiance of luminous See also:cloud which, in paintings of sacred personages, is represented as surrounding the whole figure. In the earliest periods of See also:Christian See also:art this splendour was confined to the figures of the persons of the Godhead, but it was afterwards extended to the Virgin See also:Mary and to several of the See also:saints. The aureola, when enveloping the whole See also:body, is generally See also:oval or elliptical in See also:form, but is occasionally circular or See also:quatrefoil. When it is merely a luminous disk See also:round the See also:head, it is called specifically a nimbus, while the See also:combination of nimbus and aureole is called a See also:glory. The strict distinction between nimbus and aureole is not commonly maintained, and the latter See also:term is most frequently used to denote the radiance round the heads of saints, angels or persons of the Godhead. The nimbus in Christian art appeared first in the 5th See also:century, but practically the same See also:device was .known still earlier, though its See also:history is obscure, in non-Christian art. Thus (though earlier See also:Indian and Bactrian coins do not show it) it is found with the gods on some of the coins of the Indian See also:kings See also:Kanishka, Huvishka and Vasudeva, 58 B.C. to A.D. 41 (See also:Gardner's See also:Cat. of Coins of See also:Greek and Scythic Kings of See also:Bactria and See also:India, Brit. See also:Mus. 1886, plates 26-29). And its use has been traced through the Egyptians to the Greeks and See also:Romans, representations of See also:Trajan (See also:arch of See also:Constantine) and See also:Antoninus See also:Pius (See also:reverse of a See also:medal) being found with it. In the circular form it constitutes a natural and even See also:primitive use of the See also:idea of a See also:crown, modified by an equally See also:simple idea of the See also:emanation of See also:light from the head of a See also:superior being, or by the meteorological phenomenon of a See also:halo.

The See also:

probability is that all later associations with the See also:symbol refer back to an See also:early astrological origin (cf. See also:MITHRAS), the See also:person so glorified being identified with the See also:sun and represented in the sun's See also:image; so the aureole is the Hvareno of Mazdaism. From this early astrological use the form of " glory " or " nimbus " has been adapted or inherited under ne* beliefs.

End of Article: AUREOLA, AUREOLE (diminutive of Lat. aura, air)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
AURELLE DE PALADINES, LOUIS JEAN BAPTISTE 		[next]
AURICH

Site © 2006 - Net Industries