Byzantium is short for the Byzantine Empire

Byzantium is short for the convoluted empire. It can also be utilise to refer to the capital metropolis of the romish empire, later renamed Constantinople after Emperor Constantine who rebuilt the city into a modern capital of delivererianity at the m. gnarled was heavily influenced by Greece and the Hellenic polish. With that came the Grecian mythical gods and icon culture representing iodines religious beliefs. Constantinople also became the seat of the pope of the Catholic Church ( report of the mired Empire).Icons can be outlined as offices of deities, saints or sacred scenes much(prenominal) as the crucifixion of messiah. In the baffling Empire these were very popular and were do from any medium including gemstones, wood, stone, marble, enamel, precious metal, and mosaic. Additionally, they ranged in size from small to huge and were counterbalance painted on walls as murals (Brookes). It was believed that these icons would deviate success in battle and were o ftentimes carried when troops were going to war. They were also believed to father healing to the sick and true fortune.By cosmos in contact with the icons, it was said that one was able to directly communicate with the idol or saint represented by the icon (Brookes). As the culture of creating icons grew, it began to collision with the teachings of Christianity which had taken root as a major religion in the twisty Empire. The first commandment in the 10 commandments wedded to Moses clearly stated that thither should be no graven watchs do as this would make the tidy sum abandoned to the worship of idols. As such, iconoclasm took root. The term iconoclasm doer image breaker which referred to the habit of interruption images for political or religious reasons.In ancient times, if a ruler was conquered by another, any image of that ruler was quickly unconnected by their successor or conqueror, and then the term. In Byzantium, iconoclasm referred to a theological logic al argument that spanned about a century amid the state and the church (Brookes). As Christianity grew, the worldness of icons was barred by the state and the transversal was promoted as the only representation of the church. The important motivation for this was so the people would learn looking to the icons as the source of their healing, good fortune and success and st dodge looking to Christ and by so doing dissuade veneration of the icons.The issues surrounding the icons were that whereas one combination proverb the icons as a representation of their faith and salvation, the other group saw them as mere idols. Their argument being that the only representation of Christ given to the church was the holy Eucharist, or saintly Communion (Trakakis). The iconoclast found a dilemma in the icons in that an image of Christ was supposed to secure the human race of Christ without taking away the divinity. However, the master could not very well be represented by an image of Christ.The Iconophile, saw it as not trying to capture the divinity or humanity of Christ but the person of Christ, which then fix the human and divine together. To the Iconophile, the fact that Christ had come in a human body made a film of him possible. Therefore whereas Iconoclasts were bent on portraiture the spirit as superior to matter, the Iconophile so the created matter as a immaculate means to see God in the created matter thus deifying the said matter. This became the crux of the matter of the controversy (Trakakis).Procopius book unfathomable news report had been hidden for centuries until it was discovered in the Vatican program library and printed in 1623 AD (Glenn). Procopius was a known historian in the time that Justinian govern Byzantium. Having written other texts on the romish Empire in the 6th century, he wrote this secret book that gave the details of how Justinian and his wife Theodora a former courtesan plunder Rome and remove millions of peopl e. Justinian is said to set about forced people into the Christian faith, season his actions remained decidedly contrary to its teachings.He and Theodora made people pay for Justice, belittled their needs and robbed popish citizens of their property and money. Justinian would side with priests who stole and murdered and even took property from citizens to give to the church thinking that he would have favor with God for doing so (Altwater) This book is meaningful because it reveals a different side of the business relationship of Byzantium in the time of Justinian, unlike the ex officio annals of history written for the empire. In the Byzantine Empire, Pagan art was seen as leading people to false gods. It was primarily based on the polytheistic Greek gods and was representational.As such, it was shunned by the growing Christian population. due to the iconoclasm controversy, much of the art of the Byzantine Empire did not reflect one figural scene to avoid the said controve rsy. Because of the persecution that followed Christians who back up icons, Byzantine religious art shrunk to concentre mainly on the report and exemplary birds and plants (The Byzantine Empire). The Byzantine Empire is an intriguing time with tales like no other. Ranging from the amphitheaters to the arena where offenders where crucified to death or separate to pieces by wild animals.The religious alloy was no less intriguing and the revolt of Christianity in the Byzantine Empire brought with it many a(prenominal) controversies. Justinian became an enforcer of Christianity in the empire do its spread, but at the same time going against the tenets of the faith according to the Secret History by Procopius. Additionally, because of the first of the ten-spot Commandments, there arose a controversy as to whether icons were graven images, which were forbidden, or not. This in turn affected the way the people of Byzantium sensed pagan art, which was mainly based on pagan gods, goddesses and symbols.As such, Byzantine religious art was narrowed down to include the cross and other symbols that bespoke Christianity without compelling veneration. works Cited Atwater, Richard. Procopius of Caeasrea The Secret History. Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press, 1961. 10 Mar. 2009 Brooks, Sarah. Icons and Iconoclasm in Byzantium. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. unexampled York The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. 10 Mar. 2009 Glenn, Joshua.A truncated History of Secret Histories. 2008. 10 Mar. 2009 History of the Byzantine Empire. 24 Feb. 2009. 10 Mar. 2009 The Byzantine Empire The Roman-Byzantine Period. 10 Mar. 2009 Trakakis, Nick. What was the Iconoclast argument About? Theandros. 2 vols. 2004-2005. 10 Mar. 2009