OEDIPVS AEGYPTIACVS. HOC EST Vniuersalis Hieroglyphicae Veterum Doctrinae temporum iniuria abolitae instauratio. Opus ex omni Orientalium doctrina & sapientia conditum, nec non viginti diuersarum linguarum authoritate stabilitum. [With] Tomus II. Phrontisterion Hieroglyphicum [and] Tomus III. THEATRVM HIEROGLYPHICVM

Rome: Ex Typographia Vitalis Mascardi, 1652 -, 1655. SOLE EDITION. The Culmination of Kircher's Egyptian Studies. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in eighteenth-century calf (rebacked seamlessly in the nineteenth-century, light wear to hinges, boards with light marks. The boards are framed by a triple gold filet, board edges and turn-ins roll-tooled in gold. Spines richly tooled in gold, with red and green Morocco spine labels. All edges red. The majority of the text is in very fine condition, with occ. toning or spotting in 3 of the volumes, though the text in T. II, pt. 2 is variably browned, as often. The map at T. I p. 9 has some small repaired tears (with one small flaw), the mystical plate in T. II, pt. 1, p. 289 is slightly shaved at the outer edge; one plate in T. III (Obelisk of Antinous. p. 371) has a slight separation at one fold. There are a few marginal tears, a few small paper flaws, the opening and index lvs. in T. III have small repairs (to repair scattered wormholes), a few other minor blemishes. A few plates have some tiny wormholes. Overall a fine set, complete with all the plates. Three volumes bound in four. Profusely illustrated with 12 engraved illustrations in the text, and over 400 woodcuts and diagrams, many full-page, and 14 engraved plates, the majority of theme folding, as follows: two folding maps of Egypt, a folding engraved cabbalistic wheel, an engraved mystical plate, the "Isiac Tablet", 7 Egyptian obelisks (on 6 plates), an Egyptian tomb, sarcophagi, and canopic jars.

The text is printed in a variety of languages, for which Kircher has employed specialized types from the press of the Holy Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith: Greek, Latin, Coptic, Arabic, Hebrew, Rashi Hebrew, and Ethiopian. Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Chinese characters, Mesoamerican glyphs (copied from the Codex Mendoza), and various scripts are rendered in woodcut.

Tome I also features an engraved title page designed by Giovanni-Angelo Canini and engraved by Cornelis Bloemaert; and a fine portrait of Ferdinand III-to whom the work as a whole is dedicated-designed by the Italian portraitist Jacopo Bicchi and engraved by Cornelis Bloemaert II.

"Like Oedipus answering the riddle of the Sphinx, Kircher believed he had solved the enigma of the hieroglyphs. Kircher's magnum opus presented Latin translations of hieroglyphic inscriptions - utterly mistaken, as post-Rosetta-Stone Egyptology would reveal - preceded by treatises on ancient Egyptian history, the origins of idolatry, allegorical and symbolic wisdom, and numerous non-Egyptian textual traditions that supposedly preserved elements of the "hieroglyphic doctrine." In addition to ancient Greek and Latin authors, Kircher's vast array of sources included texts in Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Coptic, Samaritan, and Ethiopian, as well as archeological evidence. The resulting amalgam is, without doubt, impressive. But it can also bewilder.

"'Egyptian Oedipus' promised a complete 'restoration of the hieroglyphic doctrine,' all the lost secrets of religion and science that ancient Egyptians supposedly encoded on their monuments. The massive final volume gathered almost every hieroglyphic inscription known to Europeans at that time, as well as other ancient artifacts, including mummies, sarcophagi, Canopic jars, sphinxes, idols, lamps, and amulets, found in Rome, other Christian cities, Istanbul, and Egypt. Kircher glossed each object with a learned explanation of its ancient significance. Without a Rosetta Stone, he translated the hieroglyphic inscriptions, character by character, into Latin prose.

"But 'Egyptian Oedipus' hardly confined itself to matters Egyptian. Kircher interpreted the hieroglyphs by comparing Egyptian inscriptions with evidence from other traditions that supposedly preserved elements of the "hieroglyphic doctrine." The book contained extensive discussions of topics such as pagan religion from Mexico to Japan, ancient Greek esoteric texts like the Orphic hymns and Pythagorean verses, Jewish Kabbalah, Arabic magic, ancient alchemy, astrology, and astral medicine. To harmonize the "sacred history" of the Bible with the "profane history" of pagan civilizations, Kircher had recourse to symbolism and allegory. Properly interpreted, the seemingly "absurd" myths of the Greeks, Egyptians, and other heathens express a monotheistic theology that prefigures many of the tenets of Christianity. Among the many levels of meaning contained in the story of Isis and Osiris, for example, Kircher detected the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

"[Kircher] was not unique in thinking that esoteric traditions offered valuable aid to the investigator of ancient paganism and the earliest ages of history. Behind Kircher's great failures-his incredible translations and his reliance on spurious documents-lay principles about symbolic communication and the transmission of ancient knowledge that were widely accepted... The idea that hieroglyphs were symbols encoding sacred mysteries remained the dominant theory at least until the early eighteenth century, even if most scholars doubted that Kircher had found their key."(Stolzenberg, "Athanasius Kircher and the Hieroglyphic Sphinx.")

"In Kircher's view, 'hieroglyphic doctrine' (in a scheme loosely following traditional biblical exegesis) has four levels of meaning, appropriate to four types of people. The first level belongs to the unlettered and ignorant, who take the fables of the gods for real history, and leads to superstition and idolatry. Those who begin to seek wisdom progress from the literal to the mystical meaning and arrive at the second level, which is natural theology or philosophy. The third level is tropological and finds in the stories of the gods an ethical meaning, yielding 'moral theology.' Finally, the wisest, who know how to interpret the symbols, comprehend the sublime, anagogical sense of the stories of the gods, which concerns the intelligible world of archetypes...

"Early on, Kircher arrived at the insight that modern Coptic was closely related to the language of pharaonic Egypt. He was among the first to draw this connection, and he even assigned an alphabetic function to the hieroglyphs. Most of the results were pure works of the imagination; but in one case, the sign based on the image of water and corresponding to the sound 'm', Kircher was spectacularly right, the first correct assignment of the phonetic value of a hieroglyph. But Kircher... dismissed the alphabetic function as a secondary development, for he was firmly convinced that there was no relationship between the spoken vernacular of ancient Egypt and the sacred meanings of the hieroglyphs." (Daniel Stolzenberg, "Kircher's Egypt")

The Layout of the Work:

"'Oedipus Aegyptiacus', Kircher's largest and most astounding work, is the culmination of decades of research in Egyptology. The work is an exhaustive treatise on every aspect of ancient Egypt, from history and geography to science, religion, and magic. Tome I gives a general overview of Egypt, her geography, the nature of the Nile, and the workings of ancient Egyptian government. Kircher also introduces here the Egyptian pantheon and demonstrates how Egyptian gods were carried into Greek and Roman worship. He discusses Egyptian religious influence on the Hebrews, Syrians, Babylonians, Persians, Samaritans, and others. The tome culminates with a discussion of the affinities between Egyptian religion and the religious practices and mythologies of China, Japan, India, Mongolia, and, interestingly enough, the Aztec culture of America. The similarities, according to Kircher, result from common ancestry.

"Part 1 of Tome II begins with a discussion of hieroglyphics, their origin, and Kircher's method of interpretation. Because Kircher was certain that hieroglyphs were pictographs symbolizing the Egyptians' highest philosophical and theological concepts, he made an exhaustive study of all the literature on Egyptian philosophy and religion. No information was passed over. He then compared these with subsequent developments among later cultures. In the remainder of part 1, Kircher expounds these mysteries and their affinities with the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, Zoroaster, Orpheus, Proclus, Plato, Psellus, the Alexandrian Fathers, the Greek myths, the Book of Enoch, and the Chaldean Oracles. He includes a large section on the Hebrew Cabbala. In the second part of Tome II, under what he calls 'Hieroglyphic Mathematics,' Kircher discusses the significance of numbers, geometric shapes, music and its relation to the order of the universe, and astrology. He does the same with hieroglyphic medicine, hieroglyphic alchemy, hieroglyphic magic, hieroglyphic theology, and the 'Mechanics of the Egyptians.' In short, Tome II of 'Oedipus Aegyptiacus' is filled with the type of recondite learning that only a polymath like Kircher could amass.

Kircher begins Tome III with a further discussion of the origin of hieroglyphics and the relationship of Egyptian hieroglyphics to other writing systems, most notably to Chinese characters and Aztec hieroglyphs. He devotes the bulk of the tome to interpretations of the hieroglyphs found on the Bembine tablet (so called for its former owner, Cardinal Torquato Bembo), several obelisks, sarcophagi, amulets, and other ancient artifacts."(Merrill, Athanasius Kircher, Jesuit Scholar, p. 21-24, No. 10)

Added plates: Tome I: Added engraved t.p., engraved portrait of dedicatee, 2 folding maps (at p. 9 and p. 53.) Tome II, pt. 1: Engraved cabbalistic wheel at p. 287, engraved mystical plate at p. 289. Tome III: Engraved folding image of the Isiac Tablet at p. 79; Lateran Obelisk p. 161; Flaminian Obelisk p. 213; Sallustian Obelisk p. 257; Obeliscus Mahutaeus and Obeliscus Mediceus (on same plate) p. 317; Obelisk of Antinous p. 371; Egyptian tomb p. 401; Egyptian sacrophagoi p. 429; Canopic jars p. 435; Obelisk of Theodosius (Istanbul) p. 505.

The dedicatory epistle is dated from the Collegio Romano, 1 January 1655. It is followed by 56 pages containing 27 poems praising Ferdinand III, written in as many different languages-including Chinese, Bohemian, Coptic, and Egyptian-composed by Kircher and his fellow churchmen. The privilege from Superior General Goswinus Nickel is dated 12 January 1655. Small portions of the work are dedicated individually to various political and ecclesiastical authorities.

Frontispiece of the Codex Mendoza:

In the "Egyptian Oedipus", Kircher has reproduced images from the Mesoamerican Codex Mendoza (written ca. 1541-1542), a manuscript -written by Aztec scribes and artists- commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain, for Emperor Charles V. However, the book never made it into the Emperor's hands. In 1553 it was in the possession of André Thevet. It was then owned by Richard Hakluyt, from whom it was acquired by Samuel Purchas. The book was in Purchas' hands when Kircher published his "Oedipus."

Kircher reproduces the illustration from the Codex's frontispiece, perhaps the most famous of all the codex's images:

"The Codex's frontispiece relates information about the organization and foundation of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, or the place of the prickly pear cactus, established in the middle of Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico in 1325. The frontispiece] shows a schematic diagram of Tenochtitlan, with the city divided into four parts by intersecting blue-green undulating diagonals [the city's canals]. The division of the city into four parts was intended to mirror the organization of the universe, believed to be four parts aligned with the four cardinal directions (north, east, south, west).

"At the center of the schematic diagram of Tenochtitlan is an eagle on a cactus growing from the midst of a lake. The eagle and the cactus relate to the narrative surrounding the capital's establishment. According to Aztec myth, their patron deity, Huitzilopochtli (Hummingbird Left), told the Aztecs' ancestors to leave their ancestral home of Aztlan and look for a place where they saw an eagle atop a cactus growing from a rock. He informed them that when they saw this sign, they should settle and build their city...

"The simple structure above the eagle likely symbolizes a temple, possibly an early phase of the Templo Mayor, the Aztec's main temple located at the heart of the city in the sacred precinct. To the right of the eagle is a simplified skull rack (tzompantli), another structure found near the Templo Mayor. Different types of plants, including maize, or corn, dot the city's four quadrants, no doubt alluding to the agricultural fertility associated with the city.

"Ten men are also depicted in the four quadrants, wearing white garments and displaying top knots in their hair. These figures are the men who led the Aztecs to this island location. Their name glyphs are attached to them. One man, seated to the left of the eagle, has gray skin, as well as a different hairstyle and a red mark around his ear, traits that identify him as a priest (he lets blood from his ear as an offering to deities, his skin covered with ash.) His name glyph identities his as Tenoch. Other motifs, such as the speech scroll coming from his mouth and the woven mat upon which he sits, convey his high status as well. Tenoch died in 1363, and the first Aztec tlatoani, or speaker (the ruler), was elected in 1375 by a council of elders.

"Surrounding the entire page are year glyphs, beginning on the upper left with the date 2-House (1325 C.E.) and finishing (counter clock-wise) with the date 13-Reed. There are a total of fifty-one year glyphs. One year is marked-the year 2-Reed, which occurred twenty-six years after Tenochtitlan's establishment; the reed has a cord wound around it and a fire drill appears above it. These symbols note that the year 2-Reed was the first year of a new 52-year cycle, the time during which new fire was drilled to begin the new cycle and signal the completion of the previous 52-year cycle. For the Aztecs, the New Fire ceremony occurred every 52 years-a complete cycle of the solar calendar-and it assured that the sun would rise again. Just prior to the beginning of a new cycle, new fire was drilled in the body of a sacrificial victim. After this point, the fire was distributed among people to light their homes.

"Below the schematic diagram of the city are two scenes of military conquest. The artist emphasizes the military power of the Aztecs by showing two soldiers in hierarchic scale: they physically tower over the two men they defeat. The Aztec warriors are also identified by their shields-identical to the one above that is associated with Tenochtitlan-and their obsidian-bladed weapons (called macana). The defeated men come from two different locations, both identified with place glyphs as Colhuacan and Tenayuca, both located around Lake Texcoco. In this case, burning temples paired with specific hills note that Colhuacan and Tenayuca were defeated. Spanish glosses also identify these place names as "colhuacan pueblo" and "tenoyucan pueblo." This scene of conquest alludes to early Aztec military victories, which aided them in building their power even prior to their first official tlatoani came to power."(Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank).