 , relying on a reading of Polydore Vergil has proposed that the philosophers are the teachers of Pythagoras – Pherecydes of Syros and Thales.Thales has been painted as a Jew, while Pherecydes was mistakenly believed to be a Syrian.This interpretation was modified by Frank Keim who claimed that the older philosopher is in fact Aristarchus of Samos

Other scholars have asserted that the figures are typical representations for three stages of humanity (youth, middle and old age), three epochs of European civilization (Antiquity, Middle Age, Renaissance), the three Abrahamic religions or some combination of such general conceptions.