The moment
Emperor Leo III turned against the veneration of icons in the 720s, and for more than a century the empire swung between banning holy images and restoring them. Two empresses ended the two phases: Irene, whose council at Nicaea in 787 approved the honouring of icons, and Theodora, who restored them for good in 843. Some historians warn that the accounts of the earliest years were written by the winners.
People: Leo III, Constantine V, Irene, Theodora