Why the Dark Ages Were Never Dark

2. The Nine Worthies
The Nine Worthies were a set of heroic figures from history and legend, celebrated throughout the Middle Ages as paragons of virtue. Divided into three groups of three — pagan, Jewish, and Christian — they included Hector of Troy, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Joshua, David, Judas Maccabeus, King Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon.
What made the Nine Worthies so enduring wasn’t their accomplishments, but how they inspired the medieval worldview. They weren’t seen as distant, untouchable icons — rather, they were considered models for the everyday person, heroes whose virtues could be emulated in daily life. In a world where life was often precarious and uncertain, these figures offered a way to aspire to something higher.
Each of the Nine Worthies embodied different virtues. Hector exemplified loyalty and honor. King Arthur stood for justice and chivalry. David embodied faith and courage. Together, they represented a universal framework of values that transcended time and, when properly lived out, served to build the foundation of peaceful and prosperous societies.
The enchanted worldview of the Middle Ages is reflected in the Nine Worthies. Their lives were seen as part of a larger cosmic story, where every act of heroism, loyalty, and faith echoed eternal truths. By aspiring to their virtues, everyday people were able to participate in the same cosmic battle of good versus evil.
3. Iconography
Unlike the art of the Renaissance and later, iconography isn’t trying to show you an artist’s subjective vision. Instead, it’s showing you reality through the eyes of the faith — like “windows to Heaven.”
And contrary to later art forms, iconography isn’t concerned with realistic details. To a modern, post-Renaissance viewer, that can be confusing…
Icons typically depict a person or event from the Bible or the history of the Church. The visual language is complex:
“Flat” landscapes: no vanishing point or perspective, keeping the focus on the figures, not the background
Multiple parts of a story in the same frame (even if they happened sequentially) — to demonstrate they are part of the same spiritual event
Perfectly proportioned saints, regardless of their real appearance — to demonstrate that holy people are in harmony with themselves
It’s the very strangeness of the iconographic language that allows it to take on a sacred perspective. Its surreal depiction keeps it untethered to a particular time or place — so that its story remains accessible in all times and places.
Iconography was common to most religions of ancient times, but its Christian form gained ground when, in 330 AD, the Roman emperor Constantine moved the empire’s capital city from Rome to Byzantium. He sought to shed the failing cultural and political milieu of the old capital and establish a “new Rome”, to integrate the power of the ancient empire with the glory of the new Christian religion.
This fusion of old and new is what made iconography so powerful. Christian iconography took cues from Greek and Roman art, while absorbing the symbolic riches of its Judaic roots. It used these ancient modes to depict new saints and doctrines, creating a system of communication that made the faith accessible to everyone, regardless of literacy.
Because iconography looks strange — perhaps even stuffy and stilted — to the modern eye, it’s easy to mistake it as a mere precursor to later forms of art. But it has its own discipline and power. Medieval people saw icons as windows to the divine, and filled their homes and churches with icons intended to let in the divine light.
However, their visual impact is hard to gauge when seeing them on a page or in a museum. If you want to come face-to-face with this light from the dark ages, it’s best to find them in their natural habitat: under candlelight in centuries-old churches.