egyptian oedipus egyptian oedipus Athanasius Kircher and the Secrets of Antiquity daniel stolzenberg the university of chicago press chicago and london daniel stolzenberg is assistant professor of history at the University of California, Davis. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2013 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2013. Printed in the United States of America 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5 isbn- 13: 978-0-226-92414-4 (cloth) isbn- 13: 978-0-226-92415-1 (e- book) isbn- 10: 0-226-92414-9 (cloth) isbn- 10: 0-226-92415-7 (e- book) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stolzenberg, Daniel. Egyptian Oedipus : Athanasius Kircher and the secrets of antiquity / Daniel Stolzenberg. pages cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-226-92414-4 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 0-226-92414-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 978-0-226-92415-1 (e-book) — isbn 0-226-92415-7 (e-book) 1. Kircher, Athanasius, 1602–1680. Oedipus aegyptiacus. 2. Egyptian language— Writing, Hieroglyphic. 3. Occultism. I. Title. PJ1093.K643S76 2013 493(cid:2).1092—dc23 2012022898 o This paper meets the requirements of ansi/ niso z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). HIEROGLYPHICS Language of the ancient Egyptians, invented by the priests to conceal their shameful secrets. To think that there are people who understand them! But perhaps the whole thing is just a hoax? —Gustave Flaubert, Dictionary of Received Ideas contents A Note on Quotations and Translations ix List of Abbreviations xi Introduction: Oedipus in Exile 1 1. Esoteric Antiquarianism 36 2. How to Get Ahead in the Republic of Letters 71 3. Oedipus in Rome 104 4. Ancient Theology and the Antiquarian 129 5. The Discovery of Oriental Antiquity 151 6. Erudition and Censorship 180 7. Symbolic Wisdom in an Age of Criticism 198 8. Oedipus at Large 226 E pilogue: The Twilight of Tradition and the Clear Light of History 254 Acknowledgments 261 Bibliography 265 Index 297 vii a note on quotations and translations Since virtually all the early modern books that I quote, including some of the rarest and most obscure, have recently become easily available online, especially through open access sites like Gallica, the Hathi Trust, the Mu- nich Digitization Center, the Internet Archive, and Google Books, in the footnotes I have provided original text only for signifi cant quotations from unpublished manuscripts. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations are my own. For ease of reading, I have translated the titles of books into En- glish; the original titles are given in the footnotes. ix