Today the Balinese "Hindus"...who have an older version of the combined religion of "Siva-Buddhism"...still used the "empty throne"...and you see them all over Bali as small shrines...
With the development of the Mahayana School...the new Gurus decided that to compete with Hinduism...they needed some 'images'...and they took some Roman sculptures from Persia...and stuck a "Buddha-like" head on them...! This was about 300AD...so the early Buddhas are all wearing Togas not robes...!
Later the Tantric Buddhism of Tibet became very idol and magic oriented...a complete departure from the original Buddhist thinking...
After a while the Guptas of India made some very nice Buddhas that are considered the best of the best...
Later when Buddhism was kicked out of India...the South Asians made their own Buddhas...Burmese, Thai, Khmer and Chinese Buddhas all had their own unique "look"...
Buddha never intended his image to be "worshipped"...and technically it still isn't....but it looks like it to an outsider...visiting the Monestaries...these daze...
