The Renaissance: Foundation of Modernity or Pinnacle of the Ancient?

What defines the dawn of a new age and the waning of an old one? The answer to this question would probably differ from time to time; after all, periods of history have only too many characteristics to analyze. It is said that in the case of the European renaissance, the Middle Ages is separated from the Modern Age by the abrupt change in humanist views, but when one thinks of the renaissance, one must …

…Middle Ages. But it seems that perhaps it is the optimists of that time period who have exaggerated their achievements, and some scholars of our age who have magnified them even more. What were the humanists really like? Was Hellenism really lost? And was it renaissance that executed the church-state relationship? Maybe we ought to keep these questions in mind as we study the renaissance, and not just idealistically call it a second Golden Age.