OEDIPUS AEGYPTIACUS

V. I.

Ibn Wahshiyya, Book on the Service of Egypt.

Truly, many of the people of this land do not know what this riddle indicates, for the teaching was not of the people of Egypt, nor did they raise them; but a man came to us long ago from the land of Canaan, and he was excellent in wisdom, in grammar, in surveying, in calculation, in geometry, and in music, and in philosophy and the other common sciences which the ancients called the "teachings" [the Quadrivium]; and he offered this image as a gift to God. original Arabic: "وإن كثيرين أهل هذا بلد..." This quote is from the work of Ibn Wahshiyya, a 9th-century scholar whose "Ancient Alphabets" Kircher believed provided a link to Egyptian wisdom. The "man from Canaan" is often interpreted as Abraham or Joseph.

Indeed, many among the people of this region are ignorant of what such enigmas signify, and this is because the natives did not consecrate them; but a certain man once withdrew to us from the land of Canaan, who was eminent in Wisdom, and in Grammar, Geometry, Music, Arithmetic, Philosophy, and the rest of the signified sciences, which the Ancients mark as "the disciplines"; and he offered these figures as a gift, that they might be sacred to God.

Suppositions of the Hermeneutic or Interpretive Art of Hieroglyphics.

1. The Hieroglyphic doctrine of the Egyptians is nothing other than the science of the secrets of God, divine Ideas, Angels, Demons, and the other classes and orders of World Powers, primarily inscribed upon stones.

2. Hieroglyphic symbols, established after the model of nature, do not form the senses of hidden mysteries through letters, syllables, words, or sentences, but through the Ideal concepts of those mysteries.

3. Hieroglyphic symbols on Obelisks and other Egyptian monuments are not heaped together randomly or original Greek: ἀλόγως καὶ ἀτάκτως—without reason and without order, but exhibit the sacraments of formed concepts with the highest degree of connection.

4. Hieroglyphs involve various meanings according to the variety and analogy of the "Worlds" which they have toward each other. That is, one and the same symbol—for example, a Hawk [denoting the Sun]—indicates the Sun not only of the Starry world, but also of the Archetypal, Intellectual, Ethical, Political, and Chemical Worlds, depending on the condition of the accompanying marks. Thus, the said symbol can equally express the supramundane Osiris, as well as the Starry and Material versions of him, according to the intended analogy. The same is to be understood regarding Isis, Mophta, Anubis, and the other monstrous forms of the Gods; likewise for the bowls, waters, vessels, and the rest.

5. Hieroglyphic symbols were not only significative of sublime sacraments; they were also believed to have a certain natural efficacy. They were thought to attract good Genii [spirits] with whom they possessed an occult sympathy hiding in the deep abyss of nature; and they were thought to restrain and drive away contrary and "anti-craft" Spirits due to their natural antipathy toward them.

6. Hieroglyphic symbols were considered to be nothing other than certain prophylactic [protective] signs, capable of averting all evils, because of the wonderful agreement and connection of the "world-chains." This refers to the "Great Chain of Being," the Hermetic belief that all parts of the universe are linked by spiritual resonances.

With these things having been set forth, let us now at last, under the auspices of the divine Power, begin the work we have undertaken—a work truly difficult, and to be dreaded even by the shoulders of Hercules.