Despite differences in their political governance, the Byzantine and Medieval empires had the religion of Christianity in common. The early Byzantine Empire under Emperor Leo III, who publicly promoted the agenda of banning the worship of icons or idols. The argument originates from a Bible scriptire Exodus 20:3-5, which states: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any image of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth. You will not worship them or serve them.” For this reason, there are no sculptors who depict realism as it is considered idolatry. The artist painted religious figures of Jesus or the Virgin Mary confirming their participation in the Christian religion. Early Christian art was one-dimensional, generally frontal, there was no attempt to humanize the subject. The artists were members of the church or monasteries. All Christian religious expressions were in churches and were controlled by church tradition for the purpose of emphasizing Christian theology. Byzantine architecture, paintings and illuminated manuscripts reflect this perspective. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Medieval Byzantine art began with mosaics decorating the walls and domes of churches, as well as wall frescoes. The beautiful mosaics were revived in Italy, especially in Rome and Ravenna. A less public art form in Constantinople was the icon of panel-painted sacred images that were created in Eastern church monasteries, using encaustic wax paint on portable wooden panels. The largest find of this type of ancient biblical art is found in the monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai, founded in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian. The first major movement in medieval art, the style known as “Romanesque”. Depictions discovered in windows, capitals, pedestals, friezes, brackets, arch tables, prelude and accompaniment to the sculpture of the human figure. The churches were built with splendid vaulted roofs, the crossing of naves and transepts determined the entire plan of the Romanesque basilica. The lateral thrust on the semi-cylindrical barrel vault was rarely adopted, as was the cross vault, already used by the Romans to cover large spans. The cross vault is created when two barrel vaults intersect at right angles on a square plan. The load is then supported by the four corner posts or pillars. But since the central nave is twice as high as the side naves, this Romanesque technique became a necessity. The intersection or square crossing determines the span of the rest of the nave, which is intersected at intervals by two bays from the side aisles. The nave columns that carried the heaviest load were gradually replaced by pillars.