Oedipus lost het raadsel op Titelpagina voor A. Kircher, Oedipus Aegyptiacus, Rome 1652-1654

Oedipus is depicted as a classical hero gesturing toward the winged Sphinx, who sits atop a rocky cliff. In the clouds above, two winged figures hold a scroll listing seventeen ancient and modern languages and various bubbles containing fields of ancient knowledge like Kabbalah, Alchemy, and Magic. The background features Egyptian obelisks and palm trees, framing the scene as an intellectual conquest of ancient mysteries.

This image is the programmatic frontispiece to Athanasius Kircher's 'Oedipus Aegyptiacus', the definitive 17th-century attempt to decipher hieroglyphs as symbols of Hermetic wisdom. Kircher presents the scholar as a 'New Oedipus' who uses a synthesis of all known languages and occult sciences to unlock the secrets of the ancient world.