Editing Icon (section)

==Stylistic developments==
[[File:Petersinai.jpg|thumb|upright|left|St Peter [[Encaustic painting|encaustic on panel]], {{c.|6th century}} ([[Saint Catherine's Monastery]])]]
Although there are earlier records of their use, no [[panel painting|panel]] icons earlier than the few from the 6th century preserved at the [[Greek Orthodox]] [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]] in [[Egypt]] survive,<ref>G Schiller (1971), ''Iconography of Christian Art'', Vol. I (English trans. from German), London: Lund Humphries, {{ISBN|0-85331-270-2}}</ref> as the other examples in Rome have all been drastically over-painted. The surviving evidence for the earliest depictions of Christ, Mary and saints therefore comes from wall-paintings, [[mosaic]]s and some carvings.<ref>{{harv|Beckwith|1979|pp=80–95}} Covers all these plus the few other painted images elsewhere.</ref> They are realistic in appearance, in contrast to the later stylization. They are broadly similar in style, though often much superior in quality, to the [[Fayum portraits|mummy portraits]] done in wax ([[encaustic painting|encaustic]]) and found at [[Fayyum]] in Egypt.

As can be judged from such items, the first depictions of Jesus were generic, rather than portrait images, generally representing him as a beardless young man. It was some time before the earliest examples of the long-haired, bearded face that was later to become standardized as the image of Jesus appeared. When they did begin to appear there was still variation. [[Augustine of Hippo]] (354–430)<ref>''De Trinitate'' 8:4–5.</ref> said that no one knew the appearance of Jesus or that of Mary. However, Augustine was not a resident of the Holy Land and therefore was not familiar with the local populations and their oral traditions. Gradually, paintings of Jesus took on characteristics of portrait images.

At this time the manner of depicting Jesus was not yet uniform, and there was some controversy over which of the two most common icons was to be favored. The first or "Semitic" form showed Jesus with short and "frizzy" hair; the second showed a bearded Jesus with hair parted in the middle, the manner in which the god Zeus was depicted. Theodorus Lector remarked<ref>''Church History'' 1:15.</ref> that of the two, the one with short and frizzy hair was "more authentic". To support his assertion, he relates a story (excerpted by John of Damascus) that a pagan commissioned to paint an image of Jesus used the "Zeus" form instead of the "Semitic" form, and that as punishment his hands withered.

Though their development was gradual, it is possible to date the full-blown appearance and general ecclesiastical (as opposed to simply popular or local) acceptance of Christian images as venerated and miracle-working objects to the 6th century, when, as Hans Belting writes,<ref>Belting, ''Likeness and Presence'', [[University of Chicago Press]], 1994.</ref> "we first hear of the church's use of religious images". "As we reach the second half of the sixth century, we find that images are attracting direct veneration and some of them are credited with the performance of miracles".<ref>{{cite book |first=Patricia |last=Karlin-Hayter |title=The Oxford History of Byzantium |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2002}}</ref> Cyril Mango writes,<ref>{{cite book |last=Mango |first=Cyril |title=The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312–1453 |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |date=1986}}</ref> "In the post-Justinianic period the icon assumes an ever increasing role in popular devotion, and there is a proliferation of miracle stories connected with icons, some of them rather shocking to our eyes". However, the earlier references by Eusebius and Irenaeus indicate veneration of images and reported miracles associated with them as early as the 2nd century.