Philosophy (The School of Athens)

The building depicted is not a real one but an invention. The statues in the left and right are Apollo and Minerva, gods of the arts and wisdom.

In the center stand Plato and Aristotle:

• Aristotle holds his Nicomachean Ethics, which stresses the rational nature of humanity and the need for moral behavior. His hand is placed horizontally to indicate the earth is the source for his observation.
• Plato holds his Timaeus, in which he describes the origin of the universe. He points upward to indicate that his ideas come from the realm of the mind.

Key figures identified:

• Socrates is in a green robe at the left of Plato
• Pythagoras at the lower left demonstrates his system of proportions
• Ptolemy at the extreme right contemplates a celestial globe
• Euclid at the left of Ptolemy bends down to draw a circle—this is a portrait of Bramante
• At the extreme right, Raphael painted a self-portrait looking out
• In the foreground sits a lonely man with 16th century stone cutter boots—a portrait of Michelangelo