Machiavelli in Context | Classical Thought in Renaissance Florence (Lecture 3)

Lecture 3: The word Humanism often accompanies the term Renaissance, and to understand Machiavelli, we will have to know what this cultural revival and educational program consisted of. From the very word Renaissance, we conclude that there was a rebirth of the ancient classics. Although much of the treasury of Greek literature was rediscovered during the Renaissance, the Latin classics had been read and used throughout the Middle Ages. It is these Latin works, especially the writings of the historian Livy, that Machiavelli was primarily attracted to.

I will argue that the Renaissance can best be understood as an educational movement that approached and found value in the classics in new ways. Thus, Machiavelli cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of the principal tenets of Renaissance Humanist thought and practice.

Recommended Readings:
Lauro Martines, Power and Imagination, chapter 11, pp. 191–217.