Comparative Sizes of Giants and Humans

The image features a large, central figure of a bearded man wearing a crown of leaves and a leafy garment around his waist, leaning on a large staff. To his right, four progressively smaller figures stand in a line: the smallest represents 'Homo Ordinarius' (an ordinary man), followed by Goliath, a 'Helvetus Gigas' (Swiss giant), and a 'Gigas Mauritanie' (giant from Mauritania). The figures are rendered in a clean, hatched black-and-white style typical of seventeenth-century scientific illustrations, all depicted with muscular builds and similar foliate attire.

Published in Kircher's 'Mundus Subterraneus', this illustration reflects early modern natural philosophy's attempt to categorize and reconcile fossil discoveries—often misinterpreted as giants—with biblical and classical history. It exemplifies the era's fascination with macrocosmic and microcosmic proportions and the encyclopedic obsession with cataloging the natural world.