Breaking the Image

Iconoclasm — literally "image breaking" — has erupted across cultures and centuries. From 726 to 843 CE, the Byzantine Empire tore itself apart over religious icons. Emperors ordered images destroyed, while defenders of icons sometimes died to protect them.

Art destruction is as old as art itself. Egyptian pharaohs chiseled predecessors' names from monuments, scrubbing rivals out of memory. Roman emperors went further with damnatio memoriae — the official erasure of a disgraced person from every statue, coin, and inscription.