How did Greeks and romans influence the Renaissance?

Answer 1

Renaissance means re-birth. In this period, especially in Italy, there was a re-birth of interest in the classics (the Greeks and the Romans) which had been ignored for centuries. The Italian elites learnt Latin and read Latin authors. Italian scholars travelled around the monasteries of Europe to find the transcriptions of Roman manuscripts by monks which Charlemagne had commissioned centuries earlier and had been forgotten. Some artists travelled to find Roman and Greek works of art.

Artists were influenced by the notions of realism and beauty of the Romans, which contributed to the revolution in painting of the time. Themes from Roman mythology were extensively used in paintings. Sculptors (especially Michelangelo) were inspired by Roman reproductions of Greek statues which were unearthed in Rome in this period. Painters also studied these statues to learn to draw the human body as they were so impressive. Architecture was also influenced by the architecture of the Romans. Brunelleschi went to Rome to study the dome of the Pantheon before he built the dome of the Florence cathedral. After the textbook on Roman architecture by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius was discovered, the canons of Roman architecture became the canons of Italian and then western European architecture.

Greek influence came at a later stage. Most Greek books had been lost and hardly anybody could read Greek. Things changed with the fall of the Byzantine Empire. When the Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, many Greek scholars went to Italy and taught Greek and the Greek classics. Ancient Greek influence spread quickly.