The Moloch Furnace (Oedipus Aegyptiacus)

The central figure has the head of a bull with short horns and a human-like torso with arms raised in a gesture of open palms. The figure is integrated into a rounded, tiered stone furnace base, with a fire visible burning inside the lower chamber. Upon the chest and belly of the figure are six numbered rectangular compartments (1 through 6), each containing a small flame. The background is a landscape depiction of the Valley of Hinnom, with rolling hills and a winding path. The style is that of a 17th-century woodcut or engraving, utilizing clear, cross-hatched lines for shading.

This illustration appears in Athanasius Kircher's 'Oedipus Aegyptiacus', a massive syncretic study attempting to decode Egyptian hieroglyphs as the font of all human knowledge. The image depicts Moloch as a furnace to illustrate the biblical and rabbinic tradition of child sacrifice in the Valley of Hinnom (Gehinnom), which Kircher interprets through the lens of early modern occultism and comparative theology.