One thing I would like to add to this thread is that Byzantine iconoclasm was not inherently religious, but was connected to the emperors inabilities to thwart the Arab attacks on Byzantium

https://twitter.com/snektheredsun/status/1253388699783647232

In the 22 years between 695 and 717, there had been six changes of ruler. The resulting instability prevented any serious attention to the dangerous expansion of Arabs into Asia Minor. By the time of Anastasios II (713-15), the Arabs were planning a major assault on the capital.

Despite Leo’s attempts to prevent Arab attacks by sea, the provinces of Asia Minor continued to suffer repeated raids. Since the Byzantines knew that God granted victory in battle, they questioned why He now gave triumphs to the Arabs.

Being a God-grading people, they sought an explanation for divine disapproval in their own human failings.

Then in 726, a great volcanic euroption forced boiling lava and pumice stones into the air and darkened the skies in Asia Minor, Greece, and their islands.

When Leo wondered what this divine sign meant, his advisors interpreted it as a warning against idolatry and advised him to ban icons from churches and public places. Because of this, he began to speak out against the holy icons.

For Leo, it was necessary to secure God’s support in battle against the Arabs, and if this meant imposing iconoclasm, then so be it. It was instituted as a way of regaining divine support at a critical time for the survival of Byzantium. The first iconoclastic phase began in 730.

Apart from the removal of a prominent icon displayed on the imperial palace, very little specific destruction is recorded, as the change in religious practice needed a fuller and firmer theological basis (which would be provided with Leo’s son, Constantine V).

Under Constantine V, the persecution and death of persisent icon venerators followed, mainly monks who both painted icons and encouraged their ‘cult’. St. Stephen the Younger was one of the most prominent.

This continued after Constantine’s death with his son Leo IV. However, Leo only reigned for 5 years. Despite 45 years of iconoclast policy, when Empress Irene was widowed in 780, she decided to reverse it, a daring and surprising shift.

When it felt threatened, Byzantium adopted they policy that was intimately associated with military victory.

The iconoclast batted also draw attention to a fascinating contrast between male support for iconoclasm and female opposition, embodied in Empress Irene and Theodora.