Iconoclastic period, first

Iconoclasm, the deliberate destruction within a culture of the culture's own religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious or political motives, is a frequent component of major domestic political or religious changes.

It is thus generally distinguished from the destruction by one culture of the images of another, for example by the Spanish in their American conquests.

The term does not generally encompass the specific destruction of images of a ruler after his death or overthrow (damnatio memoriae), for example, Akhenaten in ancient Egypt.People who engage in or support iconoclasm are called iconoclasts, a term that has come to be applied figuratively to any person who breaks or disdains established dogmata or conventions.

Conversely, people who revere or venerate religious images are called 'idolators'.

In a Byzantine context they are known as 'iconodules', or 'iconophiles'.Iconoclasm may be carried out by people of a different religion, but is often the result of sectarian disputes between factions of the same religion.

The two Byzantine outbreaks during the 8th and 9th centuries are unusual in that the use of images is the main issue in the dispute, rather than a byproduct of wider concerns.

In Christianity, iconoclasm has generally been motivated by a literal interpretation of the Ten Commandments, which forbid the making and worshipping of "graven images".As with other doctrinal issues in the Byzantine period, the controversy is by no means restricted to the clergy, or to arguments from theology.

The continuing cultural confrontation with, and military threat from, Islam probably has a bearing on the attitudes of both sides.

Iconoclasm seems to have been supported by many from the East of the Empire, and refugees from the provinces taken over by the Muslims.

It has been suggested that their strength in the army at the start of the period, and the growing influence of Balkan forces in the army (generally considered to lack strong iconoclast feelings) over the period may have been important factors in both beginning and ending imperial support for iconoclasm.The use of images had probably been increasing in the years leading up to the outbreak of iconoclasm.

One notable change had come in 695, when Justinian II put a full-face image of Christ on the obverse of his gold coins.

The effect on iconoclast opinion is unknown, but the change had certainly caused Caliph Abd al-Malik to break permanently with his previous adoption of Byzantine coin types to start a purely Islamic coinage with lettering only.

A letter by the patriarch Germanus written before 726 to two Iconoclast bishops says that "now whole towns and multitudes of people are in considerable agitation over this matter" but we have very little evidence as to the growth of the debate.

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