The conversion of the Emperor Constantine in 312 CE at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge was a turning point for Christianity, as it began to move it from a persecuted religion to an official, state-sponsored one. The art of Christians before Constantine is little known today because of the widespread persecution, while most images of Jesus and the disciples only developed in the fourth and fifth centuries as Christianity became the Roman state religion.

The term "iconoclasm" in art generally refers to any attempts to ban religious imagery or iconography. In the Byzantine Empire, such a movement occurred in two separate waves, once in the eighth century and again in the early ninth century. This was particularly notable, as the Greek Orthodox Church had traditionally utilized icons in a variety of religious capacities.

During the baptism of Jesus, all four gospels of the New Testament describe the holy spirit coming down from the heavens as "a bodily shape, like a dove on him." Because of the uniform description, this symbol became inextricably linked to the holy spirit and was used frequently in medieval art.

The four evangelist symbols are the man (symbol for Matthew), the lion (symbol for Mark), the ox (symbol for Luke), and the eagle (symbol for John). These symbols have classical origins, though their use within Christian theology stems from the "four living creatures" that drew the throne-chariot of God in the Book of Ezekiel and later in the Book of Revelations. These four animals can be seen as a hierarchy of animal types (with man on top and bird on the bottom), but are also meant to represent the nature of Christ as well as the virtues needed for salvation.

Biblical typologies refer to the practice of comparing Old Testament texts with New Testament text and speaking of the Old Testament as a foreshadowing of Christ's life and death in the New Testament. Often, as in medieval art, this comparison was done visually. Sometimes this typology could be taken one step further, and kings or other powerful contemporary figures might also be compared to biblical figures to assert their holiness.

Jonah is a biblical typology for Christ in that his three-day "entombment" in the belly of the whale and ultimate release from the belly was a foreshadowing of the death of Christ and his resurrection three days later. King David is a typology for Jesus because they are of the same lineage, but also because Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords and is thus seen as the "new David." Finally, the story of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son, Isaac, is a typology for God's ultimate earthly sacrifice of his son, Jesus. Thus, there is no typology of Adam and Joseph. 

The Edict of Milan was an agreement by Constantine I and Licinius that allowed for the fair and benevolent treatment of Christians residing within the Roman Empire. Although Christianity did not become the official religion of the Roman Empire, it did attain legal status and protection that it did not have before.

The Byzantine era ended with the Fall of Constantinople in 1453; however, by this time, Byzantine culture had spread into Russia and the surrounding areas, including the Balkans, taking with it Orthodox Christianity. After the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans, Russia became the new center of the Orthodox church, and Russian icon painting took directly after the art and culture of the Byzantine Empire. It can be said that along with Orthodox Christianity, Russia inherited Byzantine culture and sensibilities as well.

The upper and lower bands of the Bayeux Tapestry depict a wide variety of images, with the only running theme being that they are everyday scenes which bear little relation to the main story of William's Conquest of England. Usually, these depict agricultural or rural scenes, but also include new pieces of technology such as the harrow, a fashionable agricultural implement.

Image is in the public domain, accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Odo_bayeux_tapestry.png

The Vienna Genesis, one of the earliest illustrated manuscripts still in existence, presents the first book of the Bible in the top half of the page with brightly colored illustrations covering the lower half. Created among the Christian communities of the Ancient Near East in about the Sixth Century C.E., the Vienna Genesis was more than just the scripture. An illustrated manuscript was extremely expensive to make and would have been a prized possession of the church where it resided, and the illustrations allowed the large amount of illiterate members to understand the stories presented on each page.

The term "iconoclasm" in art generally refers to any attempts to ban religious imagery or iconography. In the Byzantine Empire, such a movement occurred in two separate waves, once in the eighth century and again in the early ninth century. This was particularly notable, as the Greek Orthodox Church had traditionally utilized icons in a variety of religious capacities.