The school of Athens-By Raphael

The School of Athens- by Raphael mirrors society by summing up what the renaissance era was all about. The Renaissance was the " rebirth" of new knowledge and ideas, and old information being rediscovered. Many people were learning and discovering ideas that went against the churches teachings. In the left hand corner, the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus, is shown writing like the other figures in that left corner. During the renaissance people began to record information so other people could learn and have easier access to people’s ideas and knowledge on a certain subject. The printing press was also invented during the renaissance, and this helped getting knowledge to different parts of the country. On the right, you can see people with globes and other tools such as a compass, which a man is using to mark something on a board. This mirrors society because at the time of the renaissance people started to wonder what was up in space, an began to question if the church was really giving out the correct information, so Galileo created the telescope, which helped scientist's prove their ideas about space and the universe with scientific facts. The globe and compass show the advanced tools and objects that could assist the astrologers in their discoveries. It also shows their understanding of Mathematics, Astrology, and Science. The school of Athens shows the viewer people learning and discovering new ideas, which is essentially is what the renaissance is all about.

If I was a person in The School of Athens I would be Epicurus, Epicurus taught that to maintain a happy life family is very important, and that you should live a peaceful self suffient lifestyle to be satisfied in life. He also taught that war only made problems worse and killed many men for no reason. I completely agree that to be content with your life family should come first. Often, when I am over at a friends house I will leave early so I can spend time with my family before the week starts over again, and family members will be to busy to really spend time with each other. To me, war is pointless, it kills many people in great numbers but still, world leaders cannot come to a decision, and so lives were destroyed and caused many families grief. Instead of war, the leaders of the world should have a disscusion instead of resulting to violence, which often leads to more conflict. As Epicurus taught, peace is key to a happy lifestyle.To be self suficent means to be able to do things for your self. When I am watching someone do something I sometimes get frustrated when I feel like they are not doing it correctly. This can be a good or bad trait, and it depends on the situation. For example, it is a good trait to have because it means I can do jobs or tasks by myself without having someone to tell me what to do every-step of the way. This means I can be an independent thinker. But when working in a group I always want to take matters into my own hands.Which can frustrate my group members. Overall, Epicurus has many traits of which I have , which is why if I were in the painting School of Athens I would choose to be Epicurus.