Question

Which options accurately describe cultural practices of the Byzantine and Arab Empires? (Select all that apply.) The Byzantine Empire created mosaics of religious figures, whereas the Arab Empire prohibited religious art. The Byzantine government was based on Greco-Roman law, whereas the Arab government was based on Sharia law. The Arab Empire created mosaics of religious figures, whereas the Byzantine Empire prohibited religious art. The Arab government was based on Greco-Roman law, whereas the Byzantine government was based on Sharia law.

Answer 1

The options that correctly describe cultural practices of the Byzantine and Arab empires is The Byzantine Empire created mosaics of religious figures, whereas the Arabs prohibited religious art; and The Byzantine government was based on Greco-Roman Law, whereas the Arab government was based on Sharia law.

A unique practice in the Orthodox Church is the decoration of churches with mosaics portraying religious figures taken from The Bible. However, a fundamentalist religious movement called Iconoclasm emerged within the Byzantine Empire in the ninth century with the goal of banning the worshiping of religious figures (icons; from Greek  εἰκονο,  eikono, image). Even though this doctrine was short-lived, it proved both costly and bloody for the empire. On the other hand, the worshiping of images by the Arabs was prohibited as Muhammed spread the word of Islam in the mid seventh century. In fact, Islam prohibited the depiction of any living thing, just like the First Commandment in the Jewish Ten Commandments.

As of law, the Byzantine empire preserved the Greco-Roman law tradition as the surviving portion of the Roman Empire whose Western part fell in 476 A.D. However, up to that moment laws had not been coded in writing, which prompted Byzantine Emperor Justinian to create a legal code bearing his name in the sixth century. In contrast, the Arabic Empire was ruled through Sharia (divine law in Arabic), or the law stemming from the sacred book of Islam, Quran.