OF ATHANASIUS KIRCHER

OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS The Jesuits; Kircher was a prominent German Jesuit scholar and polymath.

EGYPTIAN

OEDIPUS original: "Oedipi Aegyptiaci". Kircher uses the name of the Greek mythological hero who solved the riddle of the Sphinx to present himself as the man who has finally decoded the "riddles" of Egypt.

Volume III.

HIEROGLYPHIC THEATER,

THAT IS,

A new and hitherto unattempted

INTERPRETATION

of the Obelisks and other Hieroglyphic Monu-

ments which still remain both in Rome and in Egypt,

as well as in the more famous Museums of Europe,

According to the Physical, Tropological original: "Tropologicum"; referring to figurative or moral meanings., Mystic, His-

torical, Political, Magical, Medical, Mathema-

tical, Cabalistic original: "Cabalisticum"; relating to Jewish mystical traditions and the interpretation of divine secrets., Hermetic original: "Hermeticum"; relating to the esoteric traditions of Hermes Trismegistus, whom Kircher believed was a contemporary of Moses., Sophic original: "Sophicum"; relating to deep wisdom or alchemical philosophy., Theo-

sophic senses; demonstrated from all the doctrine

and wisdom of the Orientals,

Under the Favorable Auspices of

FERDINAND III.

THE EMPEROR. original: "Caesaris". Ferdinand III was the Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1637–1657) and a patron of Kircher's work.

ROME,

From the Printing House of Vitale Mascardi, In the Year from the Virgin Birth 1654.

WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE SUPERIORS. original: "Superiorum Permissu"; a standard notice indicating the work had been reviewed and approved by Catholic Church censors.