Byzantium During the Iconoclastic Age

Paper Summary:

This well-documented paper examines many aspects of the Iconoclastic era in Byzantium. First, a history of the rise of Islam and Arab invasions into the region are presented. Then the author describes the role of icons to the Christian populace of Byzantium. The paper also examines the relationship between the rise of iconoclasm and the Arab invasions. The paper defines iconoclasm and discusses its religious and economic impact on Byzantium. The author concludes that iconoclasm had a profound affect on how Byzantines interacted with their God, with their church, with their government, and with their military.

From the Paper:

"In 628 Byzantium's territorial holdings stretched from northern Africa and the southern tip of Spain to the whole of Asia Minor and Syria. In the same year, under the emperor Herakleios, Byzantium won a total defeat over their main rival of the time, Persia. The constant disputes between Persia and Byzantium had left royal coffers empty and resources stretched. It was only six years later that Arab armies started a short two year campaign that gave them control over the entire Byzantine east. This invasion was the beginning of raids and other military losses throughout two centuries that would spark and continue a religious policy almost unthinkable in relation to the Greek Orthodox Church, iconoclasm."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Medieval Europe: A Short History, Judith M. Bennett and C. Warren Hollister (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc, 2006)
• Christianity : A History in the Middle East, Habib Badr, chief editor (Beirut, Lebanon : Middle East Council of Churches, Studies & Research Program, 2005)
• Other Icons: Art and Power in Byzantine Secular Culture, Eunice Dauterman Maguire & Henry Maguire (Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 2007)
• Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557), edited by Helen C. Evans (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004)
• A History of Byzantine History, Timothy E. Gregory, (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2005)

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