As contributors before me have already pointed out, the two key influences to the Renaissance were Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.
However, just as a point of clarification, I would argue that the Middle Ages were not quite as hostile towards Greek and Roman antiquity as some answers here might have suggested. For one thing, it should be noted that Christianity came out of the Roman Empire, so whether we're talking about the early Christian martyrs or the Church Fathers, we're still actually talking about a Roman context. In addition, when speaking about Christian philosophy and Scholasticism, one can point towards the widespread influence which Neo-Platonism and (later) Aristotlianism had upon it. Thus, one can actually find Greek and Roman influences on this earlier era as well, though it was an influence of a very different kind than what you would find in the Renaissance.
The Humanists were very much focused on reviving older, classical ideas of civic virtue. I would also say that the humanists idolized the great writers, orators, and poets of antiquity on their own merits, rather than from within the context of scripture (Medieval philosophy was first and foremost concerned with questions of theology). In addition, I'd suggest that the range of literature which Europeans had access to, as well as the range of literature they would have appreciated, increased dramatically, when compared against the earlier Scholastics. Humanists would have had far greater appreciation for people like Virgil, Cicero, Sophocles, and Aeschylus than the more strictly theologically inclined scholastics. This deep appreciation and fascination with Greek and Roman Culture was one of the defining elements of Renaissance Humanism.
The Renaissance, which occurred between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, was a time of scientific, intellectual, and cultural awakening. During this time, the culture, arts, politics, and economy were all reborn. It was inspired by the Ancient Roman and Greek cultures, as their intellect and art were not only rediscovered, but also revived. It began in Florence, Italy, but then spread throughout Europe. It aided in bridging the gap between the dark Middle Ages and modern-day society. The changes during this time period revolutionized the way things were in the Middle Ages and laid the groundwork for modern-day society. Many aspects of our lifestyle today stem from the Renaissance era, which means the influences of Ancient Romans and Ancient Greeks can still be seen today.
The Renaissance was sparked by the recovery of ancient learning, most notably from Greece and Rome. Many of the great cultural treasures of antiquity had long been thought irretrievably lost, but with the discovery of ancient manuscripts and the transmission of ideas—such as Aristotle's—by Islamic scholars, a whole new world opened up to a generation of Europeans previously mired in ignorance of their own cultural heritage. The rediscovery of Ancient Greek and Roman ideas reestablished a connection between contemporary European culture and its more glorious past. This provided a parallel source of unity alongside that provided by the Church. Thus was established the phenomenon of Christian humanism, a synthesis of the two great foundations of Western civilization: Christianity and classical antiquity.
The Renaissance was mostly affected by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Before this period, there was little interest in studying these two groups because they were not Christians and most of their most valuable writings were locked away in Constantinople.
After the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453, classical scholars fled to the West. Also, the Vatican grew weaker and could not prohibit the reading of these ancient works. Europeans looked back to antiquity as a "golden era" of thought and sought to emulate the learning of ancient philosophers and scientists. Artists looked at sculptures from ancient Greece and Rome and sought to emulate these in their own work. The early military scientists studied the campaigns of Caesar and sought to learn lessons that they could apply to modern battles. Renaissance political scientists read Aristotle and sought to create the ideal government—much to the consternation of established kings. Many writers even created Latin-sounding pseudonyms in an attempt to emulate the ancient Romans whom they so admired.
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