The ancient Greeks, for whom, like all preliterate cultures, trained memory was incredibly important, created a complex system of mnemonic techniques. Inherited and recorded by the Romans, this art of memory passed into European culture and was revived (largely thanks to Giordano Bruno) in occult form during the Renaissance. Frances Yates's book, first published in 1966, served as the basis for all subsequent studies of the history of philosophy, science and literature. The author traces the history of memory from the ancient Greek poet Simonides and the ancient Roman treatises, through the Middle Ages, where memory takes on a theological perspective, through the already mentioned Renaissance magical memory to the universal language of the “innocent Kabbalah,” the project of which was developed by G. W. Leibniz in the 17th century. In addition to this main topic, Yeats also touches on issues related to ancient architecture, Dante's Divine Comedy and Shakespearean theater. The reader is offered a second, significantly revised translation of this book. Frances Amelia Yeats (1899–1981) is an outstanding English cultural historian of the Renaissance.