The Ceiling of the Stanza della Segnatura as a diagram of the Macrocosm with the Four Elements

The 4 Elements in Red refer to Wind's identification of the Mythological and Roman History scenes with the Four Elements. The 4 Elements in Blue refer to the identification of the different disciplines with the Four Elements.

Edgar Wind ("The Four Elements in Raphael's 'Stanza della Segnatura,'" Journal of the Warburg Institute, II, 1937/38, pp.75-79) identifies the scenes in the framework joining the personifications of the disciplines with the four elements. The upper pictures, in grisaille, are drawn from Roman history, while the lower ones, in color, have mythological subject matters. The following table summarizes Wind's arguments.

Element		Mythological Scene	Roman History	Position
Fire		Forge of Vulcan	Mucius Scaevola placing his hand in the burning flame of the altar.	Between Theology and Poetry
Air		Amphitrite fleeing Neptune hides herself on the Island of Atlas. Standing on a dolphin, Amphitrite holds a sail so that the wind may speed her journey.	Pax Augustea: the triumphant Augustus is crowned by the winged Nike, holding a palm in her hand.	Between Poetry and Philosophy
Water		Satyr disturbing a pair of lovers by pouring water over their head.	The Sabine Mettius Curtius, rather than submitting to the pursuing Romans, leads his horse into the waters of the swamp which became known as the Lacus Curtius.	Between Philosophy and Justice
Earth		Fettered Giants, the offspring of Earth.	The Justice of Junius Brutus who condemned his own sons to death for their part in the Tarquinian Conspiracy. He also ordered the destruction of the Tarquinian fields, whose crops thrown into the Tiber, formed a mass of new soil, the Campus Martius.	Between Justice and Theology