Circular headwear in and of itself is, however, not as unique an aspect as it may seem. Religious artwork, especially in paintings, but often enough on statues themselves, show saints represented with halos, designating spiritual persons as well as those who have attained sainthood. But the halo in artwork predates its use in Christian art. Greek and Egyptian gods long adorned halos and sun or moon disks when they were depicted. Some even claim that these depictions on ancient gods are why human rulers adopted the wearing of crowns, as a sign that their rule was divinely attributed – and sometimes that they themselves were the gods.