Transcript The Greeks and Romans Ancient Culture

A Rebirth of what??
The Greeks and Romans
Ancient Culture
THE RENAISSANCE COULD BE
CONSIDERED A BRIDGE:
The Middle Ages
The Modern World
“By celebrating the beauty of nature and the
dignity of mankind, Renaissance artists and
scholars helped shape the intellectual and
cultural history of the modern world.”
Nations as we know
them today did not exist 
City States
What is a City State?
What are the advantages? Disadvantages?
Dominated by the
most powerful
families.
Example: Florence
(until the
Medici family
who made it an
Hereditary
Monarchy)
Signori – run by
a single family.
Example: Milan
was ruled the
Sforza family
What does this
seem like that
exists in today’s
society?
Example:
Venice – its
constitution had
a balance of
political
interests
The doge – The
ruler who is
elected for life
 Pope – the spiritual
prince
 He was elected for
life by cardinals
 Ran just like any
other city-state
 There was a
declining role of the
papacy over the
city-states after the
Babylonian Captivity
Why was it so
necessary in
this type of
political
environment to
have a strong
military?
 Development of
banking – How
does this help to
stimulate the
economy?
 Florence’s
currency the gold
florin became the
standard currency
in European trade.
Positives?
They were able
to provide credit to
purchasers –
stimulating trade.
International
Trade
Negatives?
Risky – the King of
England had forced
Florentine merchants
to loan him money –
he defaulted when he
failed during an
invasion of France in
the 100 years’ War –
many bankers went
into bankruptcy.
POPULO GROSSO: “fat people” – 5%
of the population – elite/nobles,
wealthy merchants, and
manufacturers.
MEDIOCI: middle – smaller
merchants and master artisans.
POPULO MINUTO: “little people” –
bulk of the urban population.
There was some social mobility – Why?
What were the social classes based
on?
 Center of the Southern Renaissance
 Why? Why did it become the center of the
Renaissance?
1. The Arno Rivier – which flowed through the
port of Pisa, helped trade and commerce
(Florence conquered Pisa)
2. Medici Family – encouraged a cultural
movement
3. City honored accomplishments of citizens
4. Education – many schools(civic as well as
private) – university – highest literacy rate
in Europe
Wealthy Banking Family – provided
stability
Banished rival clans
Manipulated electoral process
Cosimo’s Grandson – survived an
assassination attempt – hours later enemies
of the family were hanging upside down
from a government building – including the
archbishop of Pisa
Botticelli was commissioned to paint
them as they swung.
Gutenberg – development of
Printing
Diffusion of a variety of
Histories
Treatises
Biographies
Autobiographies and poems
LIBRARIES
Scholasticism  Humanism
The study of law, medicine
and theology [FACTS]
To
The study of grammar,
rhetoric, and
metaphysics[THEORIES]
Petrarch mocked scholastics:
They can tell you “how many hairs there
are in the lion’s mane. . . With how many arms
the squid binds a shipwrecked sailor. . . . All
these things or the greater part of it is wrong
. . . . And even if they were true, they would
not contribute anything to the blessed life.
What is the use, I pray you, of knowing the
nature of beasts, birds, fishes and serpents,
and not knowing, or spurning the nature of
man, to what end we are born, and from were
and whither we pilgrimage.”
What is a Renaissance Man?