An icon is an image or representation that substitutes for an object or an idea by analogy or symbolically.
The word icon or icon comes from the Greek and means image. The term is used to refer to images, signs and symbols that are used to represent concepts or objects.
Iconography is widely used in various fields. It can be said that practically everything that surrounds us in contemporary societies are icons, symbols, or representative images. These icons can have a figurative, decorative, or significant purpose.
Typically, iconography is used in religious contexts, to represent images, analogies, metaphors, divinities, and doctrines. Religions have made extensive use of images throughout history, often having ornamental significance as an object of sacred veneration.
Religions such as Catholicism have long used all kinds of images to represent their divine figures, such as Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit. These images or icons are produced in mosaics, glass, paper, wood and other materials, and can be placed in temples and churches or in dwellings for worship and prayers.
In turn, during the Byzantine Empire and, more precisely, in Constantinople, the tradition of icons developed strongly and many of these images are preserved to this day.
Another field where icons are very popular is computer science. In this area, an icon is considered to be a small graphic that on the desktop, files, websites and in all kinds of contexts is used to represent a given object such as a program, a document, a section or a command. Computer practice provides that the user will click on the icon of their interest to activate one or a series of specific functions. In turn, the icons most used by each individual will be located on the desktop.
