Byzantine Iconoclasm
For over a century the empire argues whether the holy may be depicted — and destroys its icons.
The emperor Leo III begins removing images from churches and city gates, holding their veneration a breach of the commandment against idols; the argument is sharpened by the neighbourhood of Jews and Muslims, who have no images. The dispute splits the empire: the monasteries resist, defenders of the icons are exiled and executed, old paintings are chiselled from the walls and painted over with crosses. Twice councils decide the matter — in 787 for the icons, in 815 against — and only in 843 is the veneration restored for good. Out of this quarrel come the theology of the image, and the manner of painting that will later be called Byzantine.
§Sources
Documents of the period
- documents and chronicles of the period
Scholarship
- general histories of the region
Basis: documents and evidence.