Iconoclasm without icons? The rediscovery of an aniconic tradition in late antique Christianity and how it was forgotten during Byzantine ‚Iconoclasm‘

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Philipp Niewöhner
• Subject Area: Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology ; Ancient History ; Art History
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 406117376

The project has two main objectives. The first objective concerns late antique churches at Constantinople and Asia Minor and how they differed from churches in other regions of the late Roman Empire by refraining from iconic representations. Instead of monumental images of saints, late antique churches at Constantinople and Asia Minor appear to have displayed crosses. In addition, a general restraint in the use of figural representations seems to be confirmed by a preference for marble pavements or ornamental floor mosaics. In contrast to other regions, the late antique churches of Constantinople and Asia Minor contained few figural floor mosaics, and the existing ones were typically allegorical in character and may have only been used in certain contexts, for example baptisteries. In this way it may be shown that the late antique churches of Constantinople and Asia Minor were apparently committed to an aniconic tradition, which distinguished them from the rich figural decoration in other parts of the early Christian oecumene.This hypothesis has far-reaching consequences for the 'Iconoclasm' that preoccupied the Eastern Roman Empire in the eighth and ninth centuries and forms the second objective of the project. Byzantine 'Iconoclasm' has so far been conceptualized roughly along the same lines as the iconoclasm that took place in early modern Europe during the Reformation. Thus, 'iconoclasts' were believed to have attacked an established cult of images, thereby shaking Orthodox Christianity to its foundations. However, in view of the aniconic tradition of Constantinople and Asia Minor as described above, this hardly rings true, especially considering that the Byzantine Empire, which had shrunk considerably since late antiquity, concentrated essentially on this region in the eighth and ninth centuries. Therefore, the project proposes to investigate whether the aniconic tradition may have remained normative until the eighth century and whether the dispute over images commonly known as 'Iconoclasm' may in fact have been triggered not by the destruction of old icons, but, on the contrary, by the arrival of new ones, where such had not been customary.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants