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Raphael's Vatican mural (1509 - 1510) of an imaginary 'School of Athens.' Aristotle & Plato walk under imperial Roman arches
among ancients who use modern books instead of scrolls. Heraclitus of Ephesos has Michelangelo's face, and sits writing on a
cubic desk in the foreground. The martyred mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria stands in a white gown two figures to his left.
Some suspect that the figure in the red robe standing by himself at the upper far right might represent the philosopher Plotinus,
and that he looks down at the earlier Diogenes the Cynic sprawled on the steps, now resting from 'seeking an honest man'.
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|  'The Apparition of the Virgin and Child to the Cumaean
Sibyl and the
first Roman Emperor, Augustus. Painting
by Benevenuto Tisi of Ferrara (so-called "the Carnation,"
perhaps because he often wore that flower), 1481-1559.
I think we see somehow indicated the famous oracular
seat that the Sibyl sat on when prophesying.
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Livia, wife to the Emperor Augustus,
late 1st century BC.
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