The phoenix is sometimes pictured in ancient and medieval literature and medieval art as endowed with a nimbus, which emphasizes the bird's connection with the Sun.[9] In the oldest images of phoenixes on record these nimbuses often have seven rays, like Helios (the personified sun of Greek mythology).[10] Pliny the Elder[11] also describes the bird as having a crest of feathers on its head,[9] and Ezekiel the Dramatist compared it to a rooster.[12]