The Renaissance Battle for Rome

Download or read book The Renaissance Battle for Rome written by Susanna de Beer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-01-31 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Renaissance Battle for Rome examines the rhetorical battle fought simultaneously between a wide variety of parties (individuals, groups, authorities) seeking prestige or legitimacy through the legacy of ancient Romeâe"a battle over the question of whose claims to this legacy were most legitimate. Distinguishing four domainsâe"power, morality, cityscape and literatureâe"in which ancient Rome represented a particularly powerful example, this book traces the contours of this rhetorical battle across Renaissance Europe, based on a broad selection of Humanist Latin Poetry. It shows how humanist poets negotiated different claims on behalf of others and themselves in their work, acting both as "spin doctors" and "new Romans", while also undermining competing claims to this same idealized past. By so doing this book not only offers a new understanding of several aspects of the Renaissance that are usually considered separately, but ultimately allows us to understand Renaissance culture as a constant negotiation between appropriating and contesting the idea and ideal of "Rome."