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Italian Renaissance Learning Resources

In collaboration with the National Gallery of Art

Iconoclasm

From Greek, literally, “image smashing.” Iconoclastic movements around the world have been variously motivated, but the controversy in Byzantium during the eighth and ninth centuries was directly centered on the legitimacy of religious images—whether or not they were idolatrous. Iconoclasts are those who destroy images, symbols, or monuments (usually religious, sometimes political). Supporters of icons are iconophiles or iconodoules.