Niccolò Machiavelli

Born in Florence, Italy, Niccolò Machiavelli was a diplomat, political theorist, philosopher, and writer during the Renaissance. He served as a senior official in the Florentine Republic, handling diplomatic and military affairs for 14 years before the Medici family returned to power and exiled him.

While his political career ended abruptly, his literary career was just beginning. It was during this exile that he penned his most infamous work, "The Prince," a brutally pragmatic guide to statecraft that suggested rulers should be feared rather than loved, if they cannot be both. His name has since become an adjective, "Machiavellian," synonymous with cunning, amoral, and manipulative politics.

Despite the enduring influence of his thought, Machiavelli showed no discernible connection to Jewish identity or ancestry. His focus was entirely on worldly power and the realpolitik of Renaissance Italy, with little time for ancient traditions or religious affiliations outside the dominant Catholic framework of his era.

So, while his political theories might make a modern Mensch kvetch about ethical governance, Machiavelli himself was about as Jewish as a pepperoni pizza. But a very influential pepperoni pizza, no doubt.