Early Christian art, created before the legalization of Christianity, used symbols like the fish, anchor, and shepherd to represent Christian beliefs discreetly.

After Christianity was legalized, Christian art adopted Roman forms, with the basilica being adapted as the standard design for churches.

Byzantine art developed in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire and was primarily religious and imperial in nature.

It is characterized by its spiritual and otherworldly quality, with flattened, elongated figures and rich, golden backgrounds.

The most important art form was the mosaic, which used small pieces of glass or stone to create shimmering, divine images on the interiors of churches.

Icons, painted images of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or saints, were central to Orthodox Christian worship and were seen as windows into the divine.

The Iconoclast controversy in the 8th and 9th centuries was a period when the creation and veneration of religious images were banned.

Byzantine art and architecture reached its peak under Emperor Justinian with the construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

The style was meant to inspire awe and convey the sacred mysteries of the faith, not to depict naturalistic reality.

Byzantine art had a lasting influence on the religious art of Russia and the Orthodox countries of the Balkans.