Houghton GC6 K6323 650o - Obeliscus Pamphilius

This engraving displays the detailed hieroglyphic sequences from each side of the Egyptian obelisk located in Rome's Piazza Navona. The central axis features the Pamphili family coat of arms supported by an angel, medallions showing Pope Innocent X and the Fountain of the Four Rivers, and a small-scale rendering of the monument wrapped in a banner. The work serves as a scholarly documentation of the granite monument within a Baroque decorative frame.

Athanasius Kircher used this work to argue that Egyptian hieroglyphs were mystical symbols of 'prisca theologia' or ancient wisdom that prefigured Christian truths. His interpretation positions the Egyptian tradition as a precursor to the Hermetic and Neoplatonic ideas that Kircher sought to synthesize with Jesuit scholarship.