THE NIMBUS OR GLORY.
The nimbus or glory, now peculiar to the saints, was formerly applied to emperors. A nimbus appears round the head of Constantine the second, in a gold coin of that prince; and of Flavia Maxima Fausta, in a gold medallion; and of Justinian in another. But the idea is as ancient as the reign of Augustus, and is found in Roman authors, before it appeared on coins. Oiselius gives a coin of Antoninus Pius, with the nimbus, but this however is doubtful, and may have been some flaw in the coin from which he engraved his representation.