Celebrating Classical Wisdom


	Celebrating Classical Wisdom

Michelangelo
Sistine Ceiling sibyls: Cumaean, Delphic, Libyan
1508-1512

Michelangelo included pagan sibyls along with Old Testament prophets on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Many Renaissance intellectuals accepted the idea that even non-Christians had some access to truth and divine inspiration. These sibyls were thought to have prophesied the birth of Christ.
To study the entire Sistine Chapel, click here!

Raphael
The School of Athens
Papal Apartments, Vatican, Rome, 1509-11

Great philosophers and scientists of the ancient world, rediscovered by the Renaissance, are depicted here. Plato (left) and Aristotle (right) are in center. On Plato's side are those concerned with mysteries transcending this world; on Aristotle's are those concerned with nature and the affairs of men. On the far right is Raphael himself, with the mathematicians and scientists; Renaissance artists not only signed their works with pride but often included small self-portraits. Note that this fresco glorifying the wisdom and achievements of non-Christians is in the Vatican, at that time the center of the Christian world.
Click here to identify figures in the School of Athens.

All images marked ^MAS were photographed on location by Mary Ann Sullivan. All other images were scanned from other sources or downloaded from the World Wide Web; they are posted on this password-protected site for educational purposes, at Bluffton College only, under the "fair use" clause of U.S. copyright law.

Page maintained by Gerald W. Schlabach, gws@bluffton.edu. Last updated: 21 November 1997.

	Michelangelo Sistine Ceiling sibyls: Cumaean, Delphic, Libyan 1508-1512
	Michelangelo included pagan sibyls along with Old Testament prophets on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Many Renaissance intellectuals accepted the idea that even non-Christians had some access to truth and divine inspiration. These sibyls were thought to have prophesied the birth of Christ. *To study the entire* Sistine Chapel, click here!**
	Raphael The School of Athens Papal Apartments, Vatican, Rome, 1509-11
	Great philosophers and scientists of the ancient world, rediscovered by the Renaissance, are depicted here. Plato (left) and Aristotle (right) are in center. On Plato's side are those concerned with mysteries transcending this world; on Aristotle's are those concerned with nature and the affairs of men. On the far right is Raphael himself, with the mathematicians and scientists; Renaissance artists not only signed their works with pride but often included small self-portraits. Note that this fresco glorifying the wisdom and achievements of non-Christians is in the Vatican, at that time the center of the Christian world. *Click here to identify figures in the School of Athens.*