An Iconophor, in graphic and print art, is a form of illustration (usually book illustration) characterized by the fact that the names of the objects represented in it start with a given letter. Its origins lie in medieval illuminations, though the abecedarian connection was usually coincidental in the Middle Ages. Etymologically, "iconophor" comes from Greek, meaning "bearer" or "transporter" (...phor) of image (ikono..). It seems that it was used formerly in Byzantine Christianity, to define an "icon bearer", in a direct or symbolic sense.