Final answer:
Icons were controversial in the Early Byzantine period, leading to the Iconoclastic Controversy in the eighth and ninth centuries. Both sides had different arguments regarding the depiction of God in art. Ultimately, the use of religious images was affirmed and the Iconoclastic Controversy ended in 843.
Step-by-step explanation:
Icons were quite controversial in the Early Byzantine period. At the time, Christianity was still working to demonstrate its difference from Roman polytheism (the worship of many gods, in this case Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Venus, and the rest of the Roman pantheon of deities). One of the main differences that early Christians and their Byzantine successors sought to emphasize was their rejection of polytheistic worship of idols, that is, of statues believed to represent and house gods.
The controversy over icons in the Byzantine period led to the "Iconoclastic Controversy" in the eighth and ninth centuries. The iconoclasts opposed icons, arguing that God was transcendent and could not be depicted in art. On the other hand, the iconophiles defended icons, arguing that since Jesus, the Son of God, was born with a visible human body, he could be depicted in images.
In the end, Church and imperial authorities affirmed the use of religious images and ended the Iconoclastic Controversy in 843, an event subsequently celebrated by the Byzantines as the "Triumph of Orthodoxy."