Plato's Academy mosaic is a free standing mosaic panel found in the villa of T. Siminius Stephanus in Pompeii. It is roughly a square, 86 cm x 85 cm, and can be seen presently at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, where it is kept as item MANN 124545.
Most generally it is taken to present some variation on the topic of the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece. The figures are in classical attire of toga and sandals, gathered under a tree, against a backdrop of allusive elements, including stone columns suggestive of the grand civic architecture of the age, and glimpses of distant cliffs or havens, perhaps metaphysical in nature. Since its discovery in 1897 Sedley D., (2021) An Iconography of Xenocrates' Platonism, in Authority and Authoritative texts in the Platonist Tradition, ed. Erler M., et al., Cambridge UP, p.38 many hypotheses about the personages and the meaning of the representation have been proposed.(fr) Françoise-Hélène Massa-Pairault, De l’Académie au Musée: regards sur la mosaïque «des Philosophes» (MANN 124545), Revue archéologique 2020/1 (n° 69), p. 29-83
Overview Otto Brendel published in 1936 a book-length study arguing that the scene should be interpreted by focusing on the sphere seen as central for the mosaic.Brendel O., Symbolik der Kugel, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung. Band 51, 1936, S. 1–95; tr. as Symbolism of the sphere. A contribution to the history of earlier Greek philosophy (= Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain. Band 67). Brill, Leiden 1977, ISBN 90-04-05266-6. His reading has been challenged by pointing that the object is actually the omphalos and the depicted gathering is located at Delphi.Griffiths A., Navel-Gazing in Naples?: The Painting Behind the "PompeiiPhilosophers", Syllecta Classica, Volume 27 (2016), pp. 151-166 Others have emphasized that the central figure is Plato pointing with a stick at a celestial model. Mattusch (2008) suggests for the other figures, the Greek philosophers and scholars: Thales, Anaxagoras, Pythagoras, Xenophanes, Democritus, Eudoxus, Euctemon, Callippus, Meton, Philippus, Hipparchus, and Aratus. However, Mattusch also points out that the number of figures could relate to the Seven Sages of Greece, and points out that the sages often had fluid identities.Carol Mattusch (ed.), 2008, Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture Around the Bay of Naples, New York: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2008. ISBN 9780500514368 David Sedley identifies the figures as Timaeus, Eudoxus, Plato, Xenocrates, Archytas, Speusippus and Aristotle.
A strikingly similar mosaic has been found in Sarsina (now at Villa Albani) and as it has been dated after the volcanic eruption at Pompeii, a common source has been reasonably conjectured. G. W. Elderkin, Two Mosaics Representing the Seven Wise Men, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1935), p.92-111 Also Rowe and Rees noted that a set of sculptures found at Memphis showed some similarity.
See also Villa of the Papyri Seven Sages of Greece
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