The Isiac Procession (Pompa Isiaca) from Oedipus Aegyptiacus

The image is divided into two horizontal registers labeled 'PARS PRIOR' and 'PARS POSTERIOR'. In the top register, three figures in classical tunics walk to the right: the first holds a bowl containing a bird and a small figurine; the second carries a similar vessel with a small god-figure; the third plays a large triangular harp. In the bottom register, three figures continue the procession: the first holds a circular tympanum or drum; the second holds a sistrum (rattle) and a tall palm frond; the third carries a tall staff topped with a figure of a bull or animal. The figures are rendered in a clean, schematic line-art style typical of 17th-century woodcuts or engravings.

This plate is part of Athanasius Kircher's 'Oedipus Aegyptiacus', a monumental attempt to decode Egyptian hieroglyphics and reconcile them with Hermetic and Christian thought, drawing here on the Roman novelist Apuleius to reconstruct ancient rites.