The icons and their signs: the applicability of the images in the research and study of the History of the Byzantine Empire

Abstract

The study of religious image tends to give details information that reverberates in a field of multi-faceted approaches, open to the strangeness of history. When the object in question is a collection of Byzantine icons, it seems natural to report it to Theology issue, denying the possibility of also the story about him argue, discuss and weave their opinions. Contrary to this trend, this article discusses the Byzantine icons in its historicity, in its aesthetic making and dialogue with the theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church. To receive influences of these fields of knowledge, the approach is thought transdisciplinary, using as a starting point the concept of sign designed by Gilles Deleuze. Want to also contribute in some theoretical points about the use of images in the construction of Byzantine historiographical narrative.