A contemporary of Descartes and Newton, Athanasius Kircher, S. J. (1601/2–80), was one of Europe’s most inventive and versatile scholars in the baroque era. He published more than thirty works in fields as diverse as astronomy, magnetism, cryptology, numerology, geology, and music. But Kircher is most famous—or infamous—for his quixotic attempt to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphs and reconstruct the ancient traditions they encoded. In 1655, after more than two decades of toil, Kircher published his solution to the hieroglyphs, Oedipus Aegyptiacus, a work that has been called “one of the most learned monstrosities of all times.” Here Daniel Stolzenberg presents a new interpretation of Kircher’s hieroglyphic studies, placing them in the context of seventeenth-century scholarship on paganism and Oriental languages. Situating Kircher in the social world of baroque Rome, with its scholars, artists, patrons, and censors, Stolzenberg shows how Kircher’s study of ancient paganism depended on the circulation of texts, artifacts, and people between Christian and Islamic civilizations. Along with other participants in the rise of Oriental studies, Kircher aimed to revolutionize the study of the past by mastering Near Eastern languages and recovering ancient manuscripts hidden away in the legendary libraries of Cairo and Damascus. The spectacular flaws of his scholarship have fostered an image of Kircher as an eccentric anachronism, a throwback to the Renaissance hermetic tradition. Stolzenberg argues against this view, showing how Kircher embodied essential tensions of a pivotal phase in European intellectual history, when pre-Enlightenment scholars pioneered modern empirical methods of studying the past while still working within traditional frameworks, such as biblical history and beliefs about magic and esoteric wisdom.

Egyptian Oedipus: Athanasius Kircher and the Secrets of Antiquity

History

Stolzenberg, Daniel

Africa

University of Chicago Press

A contemporary of Descartes and Newton, Athanasius Kircher, S. J. (1601/2–80), was one of Europe’s most inventive and versatile scholars in the baroque era. He published more than thirty works in fields as diverse as astronomy, magnetism, cryptology, numerology, geology, and music. But Kircher is most famous—or infamous—for his quixotic attempt to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphs and reconstruct the ancient traditions they encoded. In 1655, after more than two decades of toil, Kircher published his solution to the hieroglyphs, Oedipus Aegyptiacus, a work that has been called “one of the most learned monstrosities of all times.” Here Daniel Stolzenberg presents a new interpretation of Kircher’s hieroglyphic studies, placing them in the context of seventeenth-century scholarship on paganism and Oriental languages. Situating Kircher in the social world of baroque Rome, with its scholars, artists, patrons, and censors, Stolzenberg shows how Kircher’s study of ancient paganism depended on the circulation of texts, artifacts, and people between Christian and Islamic civilizations. Along with other participants in the rise of Oriental studies, Kircher aimed to revolutionize the study of the past by mastering Near Eastern languages and recovering ancient manuscripts hidden away in the legendary libraries of Cairo and Damascus. The spectacular flaws of his scholarship have fostered an image of Kircher as an eccentric anachronism, a throwback to the Renaissance hermetic tradition. Stolzenberg argues against this view, showing how Kircher embodied essential tensions of a pivotal phase in European intellectual history, when pre-Enlightenment scholars pioneered modern empirical methods of studying the past while still working within traditional frameworks, such as biblical history and beliefs about magic and esoteric wisdom.

Europe

In conjunction with a groundbreaking exhibit and international conference, the Stanford University Libraries are proud to announce the publication of The Great Art of Knowing: The Baroque Encyclopedia of Athanasius Kircher. 
Regarded by many as one of Europe's most inventive and versatile scholars of the Baroque era, Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) published more than thirty works on such topics as astronomy, magnetism, cryptology, numerology, Egyptology, geology, and music. A contemporary of Newton and Descartes, Kircher was also the creator of one of Europe's earliest and most famous museums at the Collegio Romano in Rome. As a tribute to Kircher, his museum was recently reconstructed in the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles, and also in an exhibit that opened this winter at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome. 
Commemorating the 400th anniversary of the renowned Jesuit's birth, this volume features eleven original, captivating and highly readable essays by Kircher scholars at Stanford, Stonehill College, and the University of Manchester, England. This special 160-page volume, edited by Daniel Stolzenberg, features over 120 elaborate illustrations photographed directly from Stanford's 17th and 18th century Kircher holdings. The book is a metaphorical "guided tour" of Kircher's encyclopedia, touching on many aspects of intellectual, scientific, cultural, religious, and artistic life in the Baroque era. 
The essays are supplemented by two appendices; the first focuses on a project to place Kircher's correspondence on the World Wide Web, and the second is a bibliography of the Stanford University Libraries' holdings of books by and related to Kircher. 
A must buy for Kircher enthusiasts, those interested in the history of science and the culture of the Baroque, polymaths, general readers, and more!

The Great Art of Knowing: The Baroque Encyclopedia of Athanasius Kircher

World

Stanford Univ Libraries

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Stolzenberg, Daniel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Stolzenberg, Daniel

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Stolzenberg, Daniel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Egyptian Oedipus: Athanasius Kircher and the Secrets of Antiquity

Egyptian Oedipus: Athanasius Kircher and the Secrets of Antiquity

The Great Art of Knowing: The Baroque Encyclopedia of Athanasius Kircher