The Neoplatonic Renaissance from the Thames to the Ganges

Abstract

This unabashedly intuitive essay introduces Neoplatonism as a new category in global intellectual history. It highlights one particular moment in time when Neoplatonism became the cutting-edge, avant-garde intellectual force in both the Latinate West and the Persianate East. More specifically, by comparing Stuart England and Mughal India the essay uncovers a hitherto silent cord of commensurable royal courts stretching from the Thames to the Ganges. During a long sixteenth century (c. 1450-1650), this courtly continuum was the dazzling stage of a global Neoplatonic Renaissance. Whereas in Stuart England it showed primarily in emblematic fiction, in Mughal India it was an imperial dream come true.