20. LEO III AND THE BEGINNINGS OF ICONOCLASM
Leo III, like Heraclius, intervened in Byzantine politics at a decisive moment and he set the state on a sound basis, militarily and politically. His first problem was an Arab siege of Constantinople, which began almost immediately after he seized the throne. After withstanding the siege, Leo began to carry the war to the Arab armies and he succeeded, by the end of his reign, in freeing western Asia Minor from Arab raids. In domestic matters he is best known for his codification of law, the Ecloga, and his policy of iconoclasm. The investigation of the latter is particularly difficult because the iconophile sources are universal in their condemnation of the emperor and there are virtually no extent iconoclast sources.
A. The Rise of Leo III the Isaurian (711-41)
1. Leo's family had come from Syria and were settled in Thrace.
a. The appellation "Isaurian" for Leo and his dynasty (the Isaurian Dynasty) is probably a misnomer.
b. In the seventh century it had become common to move large groups of people (often minorities such as Slavs) from one area to another.
2. Leo came to the attention of Justinian II when he helped the emperor regain his throne in 705.
a. He rose to prominance in the army.
b. He became strategos of the Anatolikon theme under Anastasius III.
3. During the reign of Theodosius III, Leo allied with Ardavasdus, strategos of Armeniakon, and seized the throne in 717.
B. The Second Arab Seige of Constantinople (717-18)
1. Because of the confusion which had existed in Constantinople since the death of Constantine IV, the Arabs had made considerable headway in Asia Minor.
2. The Arab siege of Constantinople began in August of 717.
a. Leo won a victory in Asia Minor and attacked the Arabs from the rear, while Greek Fire again did its work on the Arab fleet.
b. The Arabs withdrew in August of 718 after absorbing heavy losses.
C. Leo's Military Successes in Asia Minor
1. The theme system was now fully operational and it provided considerable strength in the face of continued Arab raids.
2. Leo won a signal victory at Nicaea in 726 and by the end of his reign western Asia Minor was relatively secure against Arab incursions.
3. In part, Leo's successes against the Arabs were the result of his alliance with the Khazars.
a. The Khazars, who lived north of the Black Sea, could attack the Arabs from the rear.
b. Leo demented his alliance with the Khazars by marrying his son Constantine to a Khazar princess.
4. Leo had to face several revolts, some of them led by theme commanders.
a. He responded by dividing up several of the larger themes.
b. In particular, Thracesion was separated from Anatolikon.
D. The Ecloga
1. This codification, issued probably in 726, was designed to clarify and simplify existing confusion in the law.
a. Many provincial judges did not understand the law
b. Previous compilations were written in Latin.
2. In the prologue Leo made a clear statement of his view of the position of the emperor.
3. The Ecloga introduced a new system of punishment, including judicial mutilation.
a. Leo said that this represented a "humanization" of the law.
b. In this case, philanthropia, the term translated as "humanitarianism" really means a concern for human welfare.
E. Ikons and the Theory of Ikons
1. Early Christian art had largely avoided the depiction of Christ and the saints.
a. It had confined itself to symbolic representation.
b. This was probably because of the Mosaic prohibition of worshipping idols.
2. Slowly, and especially after the conversion of Constantine, religious pictures began to be accepted.
3. Ikons seem to have originated in the same tradition that encouraged the cult of the saints and the cult of relics.
a. The saints (i.e., holy men) acted as an intermediary between man and God: the saint acted as a patron.
b. The difficulty arose when a person could not be near a particularly powerful saint.
c. Things associated with the saint--e.g., relics and pictures--provided a means of access to the saint.
4. The popular veneration of ikons was supported by the ideas of Neoplatonism
a. In this philosophical system the world we see around us is an imitation, a reflection, of reality.
b. A picture of God or a saint is not the original, but it is a reflection of the original--and so just as "real" as anything else we see.
c. Thus, an ikon might have powers of its own: or, to put it another way, the representation might have some of the powers of the original.
d. Both popular religion and contemporary philosophy encouraged the veneration of ikons; people could pray or talk to an image and expect that the original would hear.
e. The veneration of ikons was presumably at first restricted to private devotion, but it soon became part of the public worship of the church.
5. In style, ikons were developments from "oriental" art.
a. A figure in an ikon is normally represented frontally, and there is little concern for realism.
b. The eyes are huge and staring and there is little or no background detail; the individual is pictured to facilitate communication.
c. These conventions most resembled the artistic traditions of Syria and Egypt (especially the so-called Fayum portraits).
d. Ikons might be in any medium, but most were in encaustic technique, painted on wooden panels.
6. In the course of the sixth and seventh centuries the veneration of ikons became particularly widespread.
a. Justinian II was the first emperor to place the figure of Christ prominently on his coins.
b. The Quinisext Council (or Council in Trullo, 691-92) condemned the symbolic representation of Christ and required that he be represented pictorially.
c. The growth of the cult of ikons had always had opponents, but this opposition had until this time always been mute.
F. The Beginnings of Official Iconoclasm
1. Theophanes attributes Leo's iconoclastic policy to influence from Jews and Arabs: most scholars today doubt this.
2. Leo made no open move against the ikons until 726.
a. In that year he began to "speak against the ikons" and ultimately ordered that the great ikon of Christ be removed from the Chalke Gate of the palace.
b. This aroused considerable opposition, both in Constantinople and throughout the West.
3. In 730 Leo summoned a meeting of the silention and declared the veneration of ikons to be illegal and he ordered their confiscation.
a. The patriarch Germanos refused to accept this and he was deposed.
b. The iconoclasm of Leo III led to a new schism between Constantinople and the papacy.
c. There was a revolt in the theme of Hellas.
4. The primary historiographical question involves the "origins" of iconoclasm and the reasons for Leo's policy.
a. Was iconoclasm really a result of Jewish and/or Arab influence?
b. Was it caused by movements within Christianity itself?
c. Was Leo planning to mount a campaign against the monks, who were the strongest supporters of ikons?
d. Was Leo trying to "purge" Christianity of superstition and pagan tendencies?
e. Was Leo trying to supplant Christ as the real ruler of the empire?
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