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About This Work
The engraving displays two sets of tables: the top section calculates the numerical values of various Hebrew words, while the middle section compares the 'Name of the Antichrist' (summing to 666 in Greek) with the 'Name of Christ' (summing to 888). Below these tables, a detailed Latin text explains the 'combinatorial art' of letter permutation, referencing the Sefer Yetzirah. The layout is structured as a formal academic treatise, using systematic columns to organize mystical linguistic data.
This document reflects the 17th-century Jesuit interest in Christian Kabbalah, where scholars like Kircher sought to find mathematical proofs for theological truths within sacred languages. It specifically demonstrates the 'literal Kabbalah'—the methods of Gematria, Notaricon, and Temurah—viewing them as scientific tools for decoding the hidden structures of the cosmos.
Inscriptions(Latin)
CLASS. IV. CABALA HEBRÆORVM. 219 CAP. I. Antichristi nomen Christi nomen 666 888 Exempla Ziruph, seu Themuræ, siue Combinatoriæ artis. Tertia species dicitur תמורה Themura , id est, commutatio, & צירוף Ziruph, siue combinatio ; & in hoc consistit, quòd Cabalista per reuolutionem Alphabetariam, vnam literam pro alia accipit.