Hieroglyphica

Author:Orapollo ; Typology: ancient book

Licence: CreativeCommons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 ; Year: 1547; Language: ancient italian 

Download pdf (17.186 Kb)  on-line publication date: 05/02/2012

Abstract
The "Hieroglyphica" by Horapollo are the only complete treatise on hieroglyphics handed down from antiquity. Considered to be the fruit of an ancient, sacred and secret knowledge, but it really composed in the late era (probably in 5 sec. AD), they contain a symbolic interpretation of the hieroglyphics. The text Hieroglyphica consists of two books, containing a total of 189 explanations of Egyptian hieroglyphics. The book was discovered in 1419 on the island of Andros, and was brought to Florence by Cristoforo Buondelmonti (the original text is now preserved in Florence, at the Laurentian Library). Since the end of the fifteenth century, the text became very popular among humanists. A first publication of the text appears in 1505, followed by a long sequence of versions and translations. From the eighteenth century, the authenticity of the book has been questioned, but modern archaeologists have highlighted genuine knowledge of residuals and interpreted the work as a desperate attempt by an Egyptian intellectual to recover a past by this time buried. The Hieroglyphica exerted a considerable influence on the symbolism of the Renaissance. The first Italian translation of "Hieroglyphica" (incomplete) is that by Peter Vasolli from Fivizzano, executed in 1547. This is a rare book that you can now download for free from our site. Availabel on the market there is another Italian version published by the BUR in 1996 (translation by Elena Zanco, Mario Andrea Rigoni).
 


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