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In the practice ofreligion, acult image is ahuman-made object that isvenerated orworshipped for thedeity,spirit ordaemon that it embodies or represents. In several traditions, including the ancient religions ofEgypt,Greece and Rome, and Hinduism, cult images in a temple may undergo a daily routine of being washed, dressed, and havingfood left for them. Processions outside the temple on specialfeast days are often a feature.Religious images cover a wider range of all types of images made with a religious purpose, subject, or connection. In many contexts "cult image" specifically means the most important image in a temple, kept in an inner space, as opposed to what may be many other images decorating the temple.
The termidol is an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship,[1][2][3] whileidolatry is the worship of an "idol" as though it wereGod.[4][5][6]
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The use of images in theAncient Near East seems typically to have been similar to that of theancient Egyptian religion, about which we are the best-informed. Temples housed a cult image, and there were large numbers of other images. Theancient Hebrew religion was or became an exception, rejecting cult images despite developingmonotheism; the connection between this and theAtenism thatAkhenaten tried to impose on Egypt has been much discussed. In theart of Amarna,Aten is represented only as the sun-disk, with rays emanating from it, sometimes ending in hands, and temples to Aten (e.g. theGreat Temple of the Aten inAmarna) were open courts with no roof, that the Sun might be worshipped directly as it traveled across the sky.
Cult images were a common presence in ancient Egypt, and still are in modern-dayKemetism. The term is often confined to the relatively small images, typically in gold, that lived in thenaos in the inner sanctuary ofEgyptian temples dedicated to that god (except when taken on ceremonial outings, say to visit their spouse). These images usually showed the god in their sacredbarque or boat; none of them survive. Only the priests were allowed access to the inner sanctuary.
There was also a huge range of smaller images, many kept in the homes of ordinary people. The very large stone images around the exteriors of temples were usually representations of thepharaoh as himself or "as" a deity, and many other images gave deities the features of the current royal family.
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Ancient Greek temples andRoman temples normally contained a cult image in thecella. The cella in Greek temples was in the center, while it was located in the back of Roman temples.[7] Access to the cella varied, but apart from the priests, at the least some of the general worshippers could access the cella some of the time, though sacrifices to the deity were normally made on altars outside in the temple precinct (temenos in Greek). Some cult images were easy to see, and were major tourist attractions. The image normally took the form of a statue of the deity, typically roughly life-size, but in some cases many times life-size, in marble or bronze, or in the specially prestigious form of aChryselephantine statue using ivory plaques for the visible parts of the body and gold for the clothes, around a wooden framework. Most cult statues are anthropromorphic and take human shape. The most famous Greek cult images were of this type, including theStatue of Zeus at Olympia, andPhidias'sAthena Parthenos in theParthenon in Athens, both colossal statues now completely lost. Fragments of two chryselephantine statues fromDelphi have been excavated.
Theacrolith was another composite form, this time a cost-saving one with a wooden body. Axoanon was a primitive and symbolic wooden image, perhaps comparable to the Hindulingam; many of these were retained and revered for their antiquity. Many of the Greek statues well-known from Roman marble copies were originally temple cult images, which in some cases, such as theApollo Barberini, can be credibly identified. A very few actual originals survive, for example the bronzePiraeus Athena (2.35 metres high, including a helmet).
InGreek andRoman mythology, a "palladium" was an image of great antiquity on which the safety of a city was said to depend, especially the wooden one thatOdysseus andDiomedes stole from thecitadel ofTroy and which was later taken toRome byAeneas. (The Roman story was related inVirgil'sAeneid and other works.)
Some members ofAbrahamic religions identify cult images as idols and their worship or veneration asidolatry; the worship of hollow forms, though others do not. The matter has long been controversial, depending largely on the degree of veneration or worship which is thought by opponents to be given to them. The wordidol enteredMiddle English in the 13th century fromOld Frenchidole adapted inEcclesiastical Latin from the Greekeidolon ("appearance", extended in later usage to "mental image, apparition, phantom") a diminutive ofeidos ("form").[8]Plato and thePlatonists employed the Greek wordeidos to signify perfect immutable "forms".[9]One can, of course, regard such aneidos as having a divine origin.[10][11]
TheBook of Isaiah gave classic expression to theparadox inherent in the worship of cult images:
Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
— Isaiah 2.8, reflected inIsaiah 17.8.
Judaism emphatically forbids idolatry, and considers it one of the gravestsins.[12]
Judaism isaniconic, meaning any physical depiction ofGod whatsoever is disallowed; this likewise applies to cult images. The prohibition of idols within Judaism is so severe that numerous stipulations exist which are beyond simply concerning their use: Jews cannot eat anything offered to an idol as alibation, cannot move openly in places where idols are present, and cannot interact with idol worshippers within certain timeframes of idolatrous festivals or gatherings.[13]
As time progressed and the religious traditions which the Jews were exposed to diversified, what was considered "idolatry" was subject to some debate. In theMishnah andTalmud, idolatry is defined as worshipping a graven image through the actions of both typical idol worshippers, and through actions customarily reserved for worship of the Jewish God in theTemple in Jerusalem, such asprostrating,sacrificing animals,offering incense, or sprinkling animal blood on altars. Kissing, embracing, or "honoring" an idol, while not considered idolatryper se, was still forbidden.[14]
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Christian images that are venerated are calledicons. Christians who venerate icons make an emphatic distinction between "veneration" and "worship".Catholic andEastern Orthodox Christians make an exception for theveneration of images ofsaints – they distinguish such veneration fromadoration orlatria.
The introduction of venerable images in Christianity was highly controversial for centuries, and inEastern Orthodoxy the controversy lingered until it re-erupted in theByzantine Iconoclasm of the 8th and 9th centuries. Religiousmonumental sculpture remained foreign to Orthodoxy. In the West, resistance to idolatry delayed the introduction of sculpted images for centuries until the time ofCharlemagne, whose placing of a life-sizecrucifix in thePalatine Chapel, Aachen was probably a decisive moment, leading to the widespread use of monumentalreliefs on churches, and later large statues. Many Christians believed that idols were not merely idle statues, but that they are inhabited bydemons who could exercise influence through the idol. By destroying idols, converted Christians believed to deprave devils of their earthly and material dwelling.[15]
TheLibri Carolini, an eighth-century work composed at the command ofCharlemagne in response to theSecond Council of Nicaea, set out what remains the Catholic position on the veneration of images, giving them a similar but slightly less significant place than in Eastern Orthodoxy.[16]
The 16th-centuryReformation engendered spates of destruction of images, especially in England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, theLow Countries (theBeeldenstorm), and France. Destruction of three-dimensional images was normally near-total, especially images of theVirgin Mary and saints, and theiconoclasts ("image-breakers") also smashed representations of holy figures instained glass windows and other imagery. Further destruction of icons,anathema toPuritans, occurred during theEnglish Civil War. Less extreme transitions occurred throughoutnorthern Europe in which formerly Catholic churches became Protestant.
Catholic regions of Europe, especially artistic centres likeRome andAntwerp, responded to Reformation iconoclasm with aCounter-Reformation renewal of venerable imagery, though banning some of the more fanciful medieval iconographies. Veneration of the Virgin Mary flourished, in practice and in imagery, and new shrines, such as in Rome'sSanta Maria Maggiore, were built forMedieval miraculousicons as part of this trend.
According to theCatechism of the Catholic Church:
The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype", and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it". The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration", not the adoration due to God alone:
Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.[17]
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Towards the end of thepre-Islamic era in the Arabian city ofMecca, an era otherwise known by the Muslims as جاهلية, oral-Jahiliyah, thepagan or pre-Islamic merchants of Mecca controlled the sacredKaaba, thereby regulating control over it and, in turn, over the city itself. The local tribes of theArabian peninsula came to this centre of commerce to place their idols in the Kaaba, in the process being chargedtithes. This helped the Meccan merchants to incur substantial wealth, as well as ensuring a fruitful atmosphere for trade and intertribal relations in relative peace.
Muhammad's preaching incurred the wrath of the pagan merchants, causing them to revolt against him. The opposition to his teachings grew so volatile that Muhammad and his followers were forced toflee Mecca toMedina for protection, leading to armed conflict and triggering many battles that were won and lost, which finally culminated in theconquest of Mecca in the year 630. In the aftermath, Muhammad did three things. Firstly, with his companions he visited the Kaaba and literally threw out the idols and destroyed them, thus removing the signs ofJahiliyyah from the Kaaba. Secondly, he ordered the construction of amosque around the Kaaba, the firstMasjid al-Haram after the birth ofIslam. Thirdly, in a magnanimous manner, Muhammad pardoned all those who had taken up arms against him. With the destruction of the idols and the construction of the Masjid al-Haram, a new era was ushered in, facilitatingthe rise of Islam.
Thegarbhagriha or inner shrine of aHindu temple contains an image of the deity. This may take the form of an elaborate statue, but a symboliclingam is also very common, and sometimes ayoni or other symbolic form. Normally only the priests are allowed to enter the chamber, butHindu temple architecture typically allows the image to be seen by worshippers in themandapa connected to it (entry to this, and the whole temple, may also be restricted in various ways).
Hinduism allows for many forms of worship[18] and therefore it neither prescribes nor proscribes worship of images (murti). In Hinduism,murti[19] usually means an image that expresses a Divine Spirit (murta). Meaning literally "embodiment", amurti is a representation of a divinity, made usually of stone, wood, or metal, which serves as a means through which a divinity may be worshiped.[20] Hindus consider a murti worthy of serving as a focus of divine worship only after the divine is invoked in it for the purpose of offering worship.[21] The depiction of the divinity must reflect the gestures and proportions outlined in religious tradition.
InJainism, theTirthankaras ("ford-maker") represent the true goal of all human beings.[22] Their qualities are worshipped by the Jains. Images depicting any of the twenty fourTirthankaras are placed in theJain temples. There is no belief that the image itself is other than a representation of the being it represents. The Tirthankaras cannot respond to such veneration, but that it can function as a meditative aid. Although most veneration takes the form of prayers, hymns and recitations, the idol is sometimes ritually bathed, and often has offerings made to it; there are eight kinds of offering representing the eight types ofkarmas as per Jainism.[23] This form of reverence is not a central tenet of the faith.
Very early Buddhismavoided representations of the Buddha, who was represented by symbols or an empty space. Later large images of theHistorical Buddha, andother buddhas and bodhisattvas became important in many schools ofBuddhist art, and have mostly remained so. The attitude of the devotee towards the image is highly complicated and variable in Buddhism, depending on the particular tradition, and the degree of training in Buddhist thought of the individual.
Thedharma wheel is an image that used for worship in Buddhism. The Dharma represents and symbolizes all of the teachings of the Buddha. The Dharma is a wheel or circle, that maintains different qualities that are meant to be essential to the Buddhist religion. Typically, the wheel shows the eight step path that Buddhists follow to reach Nirvana. The symbol is a wheel in order to show the flow of life: Buddhists believe in reincarnation, so life moves in a circle and does not end in death.The build of the idol depends on the school of Buddhism that you belong to.Buddhist idols that originate fromTheravada Buddhism are commonly slim, and majestic.Buddhist idols that originate fromMahayana Buddhism are usually thicker, with a more dignified and nonchalant face.Buddhist idols that originate fromVajrayana Buddhism usually have a more exaggerated posture, and usually show the Buddha /Bodhisattva performing handMudras.[24]
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InShinto, cult images are calledshintai. The earliest historical examples of these were natural objects such as stones, waterfalls, trees or mountains, likeMount Fuji, while the vast majority are man-made objects such as swords, jewels or mirrors. Rather than being representative of or part of thekami, shintai are seen as repositories in which the essence of such spirits can temporarily reside to make themselves accessible for humans to worship. A ceremony calledkanjō can be used to propagate the essence of a kami into another shintai, allowing the same deity to be enshrined in multiple shrines.
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... what is seen and known is no longer the original transient physical thing coming to pass either temporally or locally but the static metaphysicaleidos or intelligible 'look' a physical thing has about it, the conceptual form known by the mind's eye and of which the physical thing is now only a particular instance.
The Platonic Forms become, in fact, thoughts of the Divine Mind ...
... the divine originals, the Forms or Ideas ... the divine world of Forms or Ideas ...
Hinduism also teaches us that all forms of worship are acceptable to God. We may use idols; we may go to temples; we may recite set prayers; we may offer a simple form of worship with flowers and a lamp; or we may perform an elaborate puja with set rituals; we may sing bhajans or join a kirtan session or we can just close our eyes and meditate upon the light within us.
