During the 8th and early 9th centuries, Byzantium was under the control of emperors who believed in iconoclasm---the belief that all religious images are sacrilegious and must be destroyed. As a result, many sculptures and works of art were destroyed, and there was little incentive for artists to create new ones, because those too would likely be destroyed if they had even the remotest religious themes.
But starting in the mid 9th century and continuing until the 11th century, Byzantium's government changed, starting with Emperor Michael III and then continuing into what is called the Macedonian Dynasty, a series of emperors who were ethnically Macedonian. During this period, iconoclasm was repudiated and the government began funding and protecting works of art, including religious art, that previously would have been destroyed.
This makes the best answer A: New freedoms granted to artists resulted in a flourishing of new Byzantine art where it had previously been suppressed.
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