The first iconclastic crisis: towards the invention of a tradition

Abstract

In the following article we will study the first iconoclast crisis in Byzantium at the end of the 8th century. We will try to study this problem not only through Byzantine sources but also through an important western source as the Libri Carolini. On one hand, this comparison of sources will give us the possibility to clarify some issues about the ideological character of eastern sources. On the other hand, we will be able to shed some light over the problem of images in the eastern and western traditions. In the first part of the article we will focus on the historiography about this topic, while in the second part we will explain the main events of the crisis in Byzantium. The third part will deal with the problem of the western interpretation of the crisis in the Libri Carolini and the reception of the second Council of Nicea through this source.