PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE.

On Hieroglyphs in General.

CHAPTER I.

On the Etymology, Origin, and Spread of Hieroglyphic Teaching.

What a hieroglyph is.

The word HIEROGLYPHIC—derived from the Greek hieron [sacred] and glyphein [to carve] original: "ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱεροῦ καὶ γλύφειν"—is nothing other than a "symbol of a sacred thing" carved into stone. It is called a "Symbol" to indicate that it contains a mysterious meaning. It is called a "sacred thing" to distinguish it from common or profane symbols. Two types of parables among the Egyptians. For there were two types of parables Kircher uses "parable" here to mean a figurative representation or story used by the Egyptians: one was "popular" original: "δημώδες" (demodes), referring to common or demotic script/speech, which embraced common and everyday comparisons; the other was "sacred" original: "ἱερον" (hieron), which was drawn from a more holy and secret doctrine. What the Egyptians carved hieroglyphically. It will soon become clear that the Egyptians did not carve hieroglyphs to record histories, the praises of Kings and Princes, the liberal arts, or any other such human inventions—as many have falsely convinced themselves until now. Rather, they carved them to represent sacred matters, pertaining either to the properties of the divine nature, the distribution of the orders and protections of Angels and Spirits, or the methods of theurgy The practice of rituals intended to invoke the presence of or communicate with gods or spirits and sacred purifications. Hieroglyphs were carved not only on stone but also on other materials. We say "carved in stone" not because they did not also write them on other materials (for I find them carved on wood, papyrus, pottery, and the wrappings and fringes of burial shrouds), but because they primarily carved the entire substance of hieroglyphic teaching on the walls and gates of temples, on Obelisks, on statues of the Gods, and on stone tablets, so that these things might be preserved faithfully for all posterity against the ravages of time. Those items intended for the private use of the Egyptians, such as the amulets common to all, were carved on whatever material a person could afford. Saint Cyril. Cyril Cyril of Alexandria, a 5th-century Church Father says in Book 9 of Against Julian: “Among the Egyptians, there were certain men endowed with great industry and gravity regarding enigmas, whom they usually called 'hieroglyphs' [sacred carvers]. These men carved signs onto temples and Obelisks; they did not use common letters, but rather depicted the natures of things through various figures, thereby increasing the knowledge of the wise.”

The study of wisdom flourished in every age among some people.

Furthermore, as to who was the original Author of Hieroglyphs: although I have discussed this very extensively in my work The Pamphili Obelisk Kircher refers to his 1650 book Obeliscus Pamphilius, which analyzed the obelisk in Rome’s Piazza Navona, I have thought it appropriate to insert certain things here that I omitted there. It should be noted that no age has ever existed so shrouded in the darkness of ignorance that it did not emit at least some ray of wisdom, as if through the clouds, or at least shimmer with a refracted and dim light. For Wisdom is a charming conciliator, and like a seductive cloak of knowledge, she does not allow a human being to be cast down forever like a useless beast of a fattened body to mere feeding and trivial cares. Instead, she has fixed a certain image of honor in the human heart; and if this image is frequently stirred up...