The Renaissance

tribute from Hindu states south of the In-
dian peninsula. In the meantime, the me-
dieval Muslim societies of the Middle East
developed a productive agricultural sys-
tem, building new irrigation systems that
put former desert land into production.
New food and cash crops imported from
India and Southeast Asia, including ba-
nanas, rice, cotton, citrus, eggplants, and
many others, were propagated in the west.
Many Muslim cities were surrounded by
large rings of market gardens and small
farms that supplied their harvests to a
growing and prospering urban population.

Control of the spice trade between Asia
and Europe contributed to the general
wealth and security of the medieval Is-
lamic world. The search for a route to by-
pass the Middle Eastern spice markets was
the prime reason for Portuguese explora-
tion of the African and the Indian ocean
coasts in the fifteenth century. As Portugal
and later Spain established overseas colo-
nies, and began drawing on their newly
discovered resources, the Muslim world
entered a period of economic decline. In
Spain a Reconquista (reconquest) eventu-
ally drove the Muslims out of al-Andalus.
The kingdom in Granada, the last rem-
nant of the Moorish conquest of the
eighth century, paid a heavy tribute to the
rulers of Castile, a Christian kingdom, un-
til the united forces of Castile and Aragon
captured Granada in 1492. Muslim farm-
ers fled to North Africa or were absorbed
into the newly united kingdom of Spain as
converts to Christianity.

After the Mongol invasion the Otto-
man tribe of Turks rose to prominence in
Asia Minor. They crossed into Europe in
the fourteenth century and in 1453 con-
quered Constantinople and the Byzantine
Empire. The Ottoman domains extended

into the Balkan Peninsula, and during the

European Renaissance the Turkish armies

posed a constant threat to Christian terri-

tory. The Ottoman Turks crushed a Hun-

garian army at the Battle of Mohacs in

1526 and eventually reached Vienna, the

seat of power for the Habsburg dynasty.

Although the sieges of Vienna failed, the

Ottomans remained a force to be reckoned

with by the Renaissance princes of Europe,

who were unable to set aside their differ-

ences and unite their forces for the recap-

ture of the eastern Mediterranean.

SEEALSO: Mehmed II; Ottoman Empire

mythology .......................................

The mythology of the classical world en-

tered the mainstream of Renaissance art

and thought through the work of scholars,

as well as the poetic works of medieval

writers who adopted the themes of ancient

writers such as the Roman poet Ovid. In

Italy, translators and commentators on

writers such as Plato and Virgil spread the

knowledge of classical mythology to stu-

dents and university scholars. The trend

beganintheworksofPetrarch,whoren-

dered ancient myths in his collection of

poems entitledCanzoniere, and Giovanni

Boccaccio, whoseGenealogy of the Gods

was the first serious study of the pagan

deities and the myths associated with

them. With the invention of printing in

the middle of the fifteenth century, the

works of Ovid were presented in new edi-

tions, in Latin and in vernacular languages,

gradually spreading throughout the conti-

nent and to newly literate social classes.

The study of pagan myths made them

common knowledge, and with the reli-

gious significance long stripped away, the

gods became symbols of purely human

qualities, adopted by many poets and

painters in their works.

mythology