The religious images disputed during Byzantine Iconoclasm were icons.
Byzantine Iconoclasm was a prolonged controversy over whether Christians should create, honor, or use sacred images of Christ, the Virgin Mary, saints, and biblical scenes. The word icon means an image, especially one used in religious devotion. Iconoclasts believed such images encouraged idolatry and violated biblical prohibitions against graven images.
The conflict unfolded in two main periods: approximately 726–787 and 814–842. Emperors including Leo III and Constantine V supported restrictions or destruction of icons, while monks, many ordinary worshippers, and theologians such as John of Damascus defended their veneration. The debate was not simply about art; it involved Christology, imperial authority, church tradition, and the relationship between the human and divine.
A common mix-up is to assume that all Byzantine art was rejected. The controversy focused on devotional religious images, particularly icons, rather than every painting, mosaic, or manuscript. The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 restored the veneration of icons, and the final restoration in 843 is commemorated in Eastern Christianity as the Triumph of Orthodoxy.