Athanasius Kircher's Oedipus Aegypticus

Scion

Does anyone know of an available edition of the Oedipus Aegypticus that could be purchased for research? An English translation would be preferable (if it exists) but Latin would do in a pinch.

I realize the hieroglyphic translations are a bust, but the artwork is transcendant and this is one of the root documents of the promulgated "Egyptian Mystery" fallacy of later occultists. This book is referenced by so many Hermeticists, it seems unimaginable that the only copies in existence date from the 17th century. Am I insane?

I can' t seem to locate any published edition online, even in libraries. Surely someone has transcribed and published it at some point. C'mon all you historical types: hit me one out of the park! :)

Scion
 

kwaw

There is a scan of the latin edition online, or there was, by Bill Heidrick I think.

Kwaw
 

Ross G Caldwell

Scion said:
I can' t seem to locate any published edition online, even in libraries. Surely someone has transcribed and published it at some point. C'mon all you historical types: hit me one out of the park! :)

Scion
Click to expand...

Not translated, and not out of the park, but see a PDF of the 1653 edition at gallica.bnf.fr -

Volume I -
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k111866h

Volume II -
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k111867w

Gallica is always a good place to check first for old books, highly recommended and appreciated.
http://gallica.bnf.fr/

Ross
 

kwaw

Others that might be of interest:

For broad band download only, Latin language book page images:
John Dee's Monas Hieroglyphica (1564 CE)
Athanasi Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus Tom IIA and part Tom IIB (1653 CE)
Knorr von Rosenroth's Kabbala Denudata (1684 CE)
Robert Fludd's Utriusque Cosmi maioris salicet et minoris metaphysica... (1617-1619 CE)
Gustavi Seleni's Cryptomenytices et cryptographiae Libri IX.... (1624 CE)

Download links to these are listed on Bill’s home page here:
http://www.billheidrick.com/

Thanks Bill!

Kwaw
 

Scion

Beautiful!

Fellas, that was just what I had hoped for. How the hell do y'all pull these out of thin air so quickly? Fantastic.

I'm very much obliged...

Scion
 

kwaw

Scion said:
I realize the hieroglyphic translations are a bust,
Scion
Click to expand...

Kircher made errors as is to be expected for a pioneer in a specific
field; for all his mistakes however he was the "first to identify
Coptic with Old Egyptian, and provided a grammar and vocabulary that
was the foundation for Coptic studies in Europe... he also maintained
that hieroglyphic signs were alphabetic letters... on monuments he
had seen the sign of three wavy lines one above another, and he
deciphered the hieroglyph not only and correctly as being the
pictorial sign for water, but for the phonetic value 'm', deduced by
reference to the Coptic word for water, mu. As such he is the first
person to have determined the phonetic value of an Egyptian
hieroglyph." [quote from 'The Myth of Egypt and its Hieroglyphs in
European Tradition' by Erik Iverson].

Kwaw
 

Scion

I wasn't slamming him! I hear you talking. I think he was a certifiable genius. I just meant that the Egyptian Oedipus seems to have gotten lost in the Hermetic shuffle because of the Rosetta discovery.

BTW I found the relevant decan and "saracenic" sections right away. Thanks for the tips guys. And the gods bless Bill for being so scrupulous about posting individual pages as Zip files. Astonishing generosity.

Scion
 

DianeOD

Pierrus

Scion, if you are still interested in the subject of what people of late medieval Europe and later believed they knew about Egypt, don't neglect the work of Pierrus. This is who Brown quotes, perfectly academically and soberly in his Anatomy of Melancholy in regard to your own favourite emblem, the hare = Hermit.

If you want more details I'll get them.

Am assuming that you know of Seznec's work. In the past 7 years, that ref I see has been very widely taken up, as has the business of devices and emblematas.

What a relief. I wont have to argue again that the Gringonneur 'devices' could very well refer to Atouts.
 

Scion

I do know Seznec, but do not know Pierrus, so thank you very much for that reference. :)

S
 
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