The representation of emperor as God in Byzantine mosaics and frescos

Abstract

The present paper focuses on the representation of Byzantine emperor as deity in the mosaics and frescos. Though there were many hesitations concerning the representation of divinity in visual images, it was considered that the figural art was able to express the sacred. Much interest was given to human body, which after the initial consideration as the locus of corruption, becomes gradually considered as the instrument reaching the divine dimension. The tangible piety gradually is regarded as a vehicle for the disclosure of the divine. As Byzantine emperor was considered to be a correspondent of divinity on earth, the artists who aim at representing a sacred dimension develop some techniques and elaborate some motifs that will reveal the emperor as holding and transmitting the transcendental. © 2015, Mediterranean Center of Social and Educational Research. All rights reserved.