498 years ago today, on June 21, 1527 (May 23, 1527 lunar calendar), the historian Niccolo Machiavelli died. Picture: Niccolo Machiavelli Niccolo Machiavelli (May 23, 1469 - June 21, 1527) was the first to make political science independent and completely separate from ethicists. He is known as the founder of bourgeois political science. Among his works handed down, "The Prince" is the most famous. As a masterpiece, it made Machiavelli famous around the world. This book was published in 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death. From the West to the East, it aroused various strong repercussions in the religious, political, academic and social circles. In the 1980s, it was listed as one of the ten most influential works in the world by some public opinion circles in Western countries.