It was painted between 1509 and 1511 as part of a commission by Pope Julius II to decorate the rooms now called the Stanze di Raffaello in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.

The identities of most figures are ambiguous or discernable only through subtle details or allusions;[1] among those commonly identified are Socrates, Pythagoras, Archimedes, Heraclitus, Averroes, and Zarathustra.

The painting is notable for its use of accurate perspective projection, a defining characteristic of Renaissance art, which Raphael learned from Leonardo; likewise, the themes of the painting, such as the rebirth of Ancient Greek philosophy and culture in Europe were inspired by Leonardo's individual pursuits in theatre, engineering, optics, geometry, physiology, anatomy, history, architecture and art.

[5] The Stanza della Segnatura was the first of the rooms to be decorated, and The School of Athens, representing philosophy, is believed to be the third painting to be finished there, after La Disputa (Theology) on the opposite wall, and the Parnassus (Literature).

[6] The School of Athens is one of a group of four main frescoes on the walls of the Stanza (those on either side centrally interrupted by windows) that depict distinct branches of knowledge.

However, Plato's Timaeus – which is the book Raphael places in his hand – was a sophisticated treatment of space, time, and change, including the Earth, which guided mathematical sciences for over a millennium.

It is not certain how much the young Raphael knew of ancient philosophy, what guidance he might have had from people such as Bramante and whether a detailed program was dictated by his sponsor, Pope Julius II.

Nevertheless, the fresco has often been interpreted as an exhortation to philosophy and as a visual representation of the role of Love in elevating people toward higher knowledge, in consonance with contemporary theories of Marsilio Ficino and other neo-Platonic thinkers linked to Raphael.

The all-important thing was the artistic motive which expressed a physical or spiritual state, and the name of the person was a matter of indifference" in Raphael's time.

[11] Raphael's artistry then orchestrates a beautiful space, continuous with that of viewers in the Stanza, in which a great variety of human figures, each one expressing "mental states by physical actions", interact, in a "polyphony" unlike anything in earlier art, in the ongoing dialogue of Philosophy.

[14] Paolo Zamboni, professor of vascular surgery at the University of Ferrara, made a medical study of the painting, noting that Raphael's depiction of Michelangelo (as Heraclitus) shows varicose veins in the legs.

Vasari mentions a portrait of the young Duke of Mantua, leaning over Bramante with his hands raised near the bottom right, and a self-portrait of Raphael himself.

[30] A 1689 tapestry reproduction by the Gobelins Manufactory and commissioned by Louis XIV hangs above the presiding officer's platform in the French National Assembly chamber.

A copy of Raphael's School of Athens was painted on the wall of the ceremonial stairwell that leads to the famous, main-floor reading room of the Sainte-Geneviève Library in Paris.

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 (?