Iconoclasm Flashcards
Was iconoclasm in Late Antiquity and/or the Early Middle Ages inspired by hate, fear, a zeal to convert pagans or an ambition to recycle and reuse materials?
Which two regions can be used as evidence for the debates surrounding iconoclasm?
Egypt and Asia Minor
Which 4 examples of iconoclastic activity in Egypt are useful for the debate surrounding iconoclasm?
Serapeum of Alexandria (391 CE); Temples and shrines across Egypt (4th c. CE); Temple of Hathor at Dendera; Mummy Mask Destruction (4th c. CE)
What can the Serapeum of Alexandria tell us about iconoclasm?
Temple complex dedicated to the Greco-Egyptian deity Serapis, centre of religious syncretism in Alexandria. In 311 CE, during the reign of Theodosius I, Christian mobs destroyed the Serapeum as part of a campaign against pagan religious symbols. The destruction of the Alexandrian Serapeum, the desecration of its idols, and the subsequent conversion into a church; this led to mass conversion and the martyrdom of Christians who died in the process (Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica, 8.15). Marcos argues the Serapeum was regarded as a “symbol of traditional religion”, which reinforces that the destruction of temples was not just an attempt to convert pagans, but a systematic method of violently establishing Christian hegemony in the urban space.
What can temples and shrines across Egypt (4th c. CE) tell us about iconoclasm?
Following the conversion of the Roman emperors after Constantine I, and the institutionalisation of Christianity as the official religion of the empire, there were widespread acts of iconoclasm targeting pagan temples and shrines. These actions were often sanctioned by imperial edicts, carried about by religious fanatics or as a result of a high-ranking church member urging Christians to attack temples. Often a requirement of saints (as depicted in hagiographies) to attack and desecrate pagan shrines as a method of mass conversion and to suppress pagan practices. Often these sites had been abandoned and were just being attacked because of what they stood for - like the Serapeum.
What can the Temple of Hathor at Dendera tell us about iconoclasm?
Important religious site dedicated to the goddess Hathor. During Late Antiquity, Christian authorities defaced and desecrated many of the temple’s reliefs and inscriptions, reflecting the tensions between pagan and Christian communities in Egypt
What can Mummy Mask Destruction (4th c. CE) tell us about iconoclasm?
Late Roman trend in Christian communities in Egypt to destroy mummy masks and other funerary artefacts associated with traditional Egyptian religious beliefs
Which 3 examples of iconoclastic activity in Asia Minor are useful for the debate surrounding iconoclasm?
Ephesus; Aphrodisias; edicts and official proclamations
What can Ephesus tell us about iconoclasm in Asia Minor?
Pagan icons were also targeted: in Ephesus, the city’s patron goddess Artemis’ statuary was attacked and her name erased from various inscriptions, while a statue was also replaced with the cross. The branding of a virgin, non-threatening goddess as ‘profane’ was because her prolific statuary represented the pagan dominance of that urban space, and therefore necessitated its removal to ensure the subsequent success of Christianity.
What can Aphrodisias tell us about iconoclasm in Asia Minor?
The Temple of Aphrodite at Aphrodisias was reconstituted into a Christian church, which included the reuse of blocks from the original temple, Aphrodite’s sacred well and epigraphic material such as Roman-era inscriptions that were clearly legible to a congregation. To the literate viewer, these inscriptions - rather than symbolising the endurance of ‘demonic’ paganism - evoked the “imperial past” with its associations of Pax Romana and the glory days of the Principate. The preservation of the pagan past through spolia reuse, and the relocation, alteration and secularisation of statuary indicated that iconoclasm was not the only method available to Late Antique Christians in their adaptation of the urban space. There was a positive way to Christianize cities without the complete erasure of a rich, pagan history.
What can edicts and official proclamations tell us about iconoclasm in Asia Minor?
In 726 the Byzantine emperor Leo III took a public stand against the perceived worship of icons, and in 730 their use was officially prohibited.
There was an edict from Theoderic in the early 5th century CE which justifies tomb robbing under specific conditions - leaving human remains untouched - for the spoliation of earlier material, thereby demonstrating the imperial involvement in spolia reuse (Cassiodorus, Variae 4.34).
