Significance of Rafael's "School of Athens" - the renaissance painting?

The painting "School of Athens" is situated in the Vatican's papal library. It represents Philosophy as the Renaissance society understood it. The setting is not a "school" but a congregation of the great philosophers and scientists of the ancient world. The stand conversing and explaining their various theories and ideas. Colossal statues of Apollo and Athena, patron gods of the arts and of wisdom, oversee the interactions. Plato and Aristotle serve as the central figures around whom Raphael carefully arranged the others. Plato holds his book "Timaeus" and points to heaven, the source of his inspiration, while Aristotle carries his book "Nichomachean Ethics" and gestures toward the earth, from which his observations of reality sprang. Ancient philosophers, men concerned with the ultimate mysteries that transcend this world, stand on Plato's side. On Aristotle's side are the philosophers and scientists concerned with nature and human affairs. In the foreground, Heraus (probably a portrait of Michelangelo) broods alone. Raphael placed himself among the mathematicians and scientists.