How and why Zarathustra appears in Raphael’s painting The School of Athens
Dr Aydin Areta

Raphael’s The School of Athens is perhaps one of the most famous works of classical painting in the world. This fresco, installed in the palace that serves as the Pope’s official residence, may also be Raphael’s best-known work.

In it, Raphael selected a large number of famous Greek philosophers and depicted them together, although they did not necessarily belong to the same historical period and were born in different generations. Each, however, held a distinctive place in the history of philosophy before the Renaissance.

It is interesting that Raphael not only depicted the Iranian prophet Zarathustra among the most famous philosophers in history, holding a sphere as a symbol of the cosmos, but also painted himself, as the artist of the work, beside Zarathustra.

In this twelve-minute video, which forms part of a longer four-part presentation entitled A Genealogy of Perennial Wisdom—several hours of material concerning the influence of Zarathustra on the formation of the history of philosophy—Dr Aydin Areta addresses the questions: what place does Zarathustra occupy in this image, why was he depicted among the Greek philosophers in The School of Athens, and why did Raphael choose to paint himself beside Zarathustra, out of all the other positions he could have selected? Is there a relationship between Raphael and Zarathustra, and likewise between the Greek philosophers and Zarathustra?

Post by Hannah Saatchi

@AydinAreta

YouTube video via the Steps in Light channel:
https://youtu.be/OgMcvpzjOzo