# Angel with a Millstone (re: Halos) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 22, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angel-with-a-millstone-re-halos/482503 "2009-01-22T19:34:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angel-with-a-millstone-re-halos/482503/1 "2009-01-22T19:34:24Z")
This week’s “Straight Dope Classic” about [halos](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/38/who-decided-saints-have-halos) contained this gem of a line: > [@](#): > > I note, incidentally, that in the Encyclopedia Britannica there is a picture of an angel flipping a combination halo and Frisbee, clearly an attempt at a little ecclesiastical humor. (The title sez “Angel with a Millstone,” but I wasn’t born yesterday.) I’d always been intrigued by this bit of humor, and I wanted to see how bad it was. A little digging and the Power of the Interwebs came through. So, if anybody wants to see the painting Cecil is referring to…well, [here it is](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BambergApocalypseFolio046rAngelWithMillstone.JPG), in all its “glory.” Cecil wasn’t kidding. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angel-with-a-millstone-re-halos/482503/2 "2009-01-22T22:19:54Z")
Nevertheless, Cecil is being silly. The illustration in question goes with: “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.” ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angel-with-a-millstone-re-halos/482503/3 "2009-01-22T23:33:32Z")
It looks more like the angel is rolling the millstone, and the stone clearly has a hole in the middle as it should…and the angel is wearing his own halo…so I think maybe Cecil should hold off on the schnapps while perusing the Encyclopedia! ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angel-with-a-millstone-re-halos/482503/4 "2009-01-22T23:49:27Z")
The angel has obviously just done a rollover catch and is preparing to zing the [Aerobie](http://www.aerobie.com/) (not Frisbee) back to JC with an underhand flick throw. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angel-with-a-millstone-re-halos/482503/5 "2009-01-23T00:51:43Z")
I have a problem with this column. How did > [@](#): > > The Buddhists of India, finally, picked up the halo from Greek invaders in the third century AD when > [@](#): > > The halo … was incorporated into Christian art sometime in the fourth century AD Was it just by description, so the Buddhists were the first to actually depict it? ---
**Author:** ![scarbrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@scarbrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scarbrow)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angel-with-a-millstone-re-halos/482503/6 "2009-01-23T02:05:22Z")
The vague comment about “time of the Greeks and Romans” is usually taken to mean some time BC, so neither the Christians nor the Buddhists were first. The lack of specifics leads me to believe Cecil does not know where it actually started. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angel-with-a-millstone-re-halos/482503/7 "2009-01-23T19:59:59Z")
[QUOTE=Askance] Was it just by description, so the Buddhists were the first to actually depict it? [/QUOTE] “Greek invaders” does not equal “Christians”. There’s this whole group of art that predates Christianity. > **[Halo (religious iconography)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(religious_iconography))** > > A halo (from Ancient Greek ἅλως, hálōs, 'threshing floor, disk'), also called a nimbus, aureole, glory or gloriole (Latin: gloriola, lit. 'little glory'), is a crown of light rays, circle or disk of light that surrounds a person in works of art. The halo occurs in the iconography of many religions to indicate holy or sacred figures, and has at various periods also been used in images of rulers and heroes. In the religious art of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Christianity, Hinduism, and Halos ...