Focus on this artwork and explore the Precursors.
Similar subjects are known from antiquity, notably the Plato's Academy mosaic. It perhaps also appeared in two groups of statues from Roman Egypt. The 19th century French consul Jean-François Mimaut mentioned nine statues at the Serapeum of Alexandria holding rolls, while eleven statues were found at the Memphis Saqqara. A review of "Les Statues Ptolémaïques du Sarapieion de Memphis" ascribed them to the 3rd century, sculpted of limestone and stucco, some standing and others sitting. Rowe and Rees 1956 suggested that both statue groups share a similar subject to the Plato's Academy mosaic, with the Saqqara figures identified as: "(1) Pindare, (2) Démétrios de Phalère, (3) x (?), (4) Orphée (?) aux oiseaux, (5) Hésiode, (6) Homère, (7) x (?), (8) Protagoras, (9) Thalès, (10) Héraclite, (11) Platon, (12) Aristote (?)." However, there have been other suggestions (e.g. Mattusch 2008). Plato and Thales are commonly identified as central figures.
Pindare Hésiode Thales Memphis Saqqara Pindar Plato's Academy mosaic Serapeum of Alexandria Rowe Démétrios de Phalère Platon Saqqara Plato Héraclite Homère Thalès Protagoras Rees Aristote Orphée