Athanasius Kircher
Nestorian Christians but also attempted to establish more tenuous links with Egypt and Christianity. Kircher 's work with geology included studies of volcanos and fossils . One of the first people to observe microbes through a microscope , he was thus ahead of his time in proposing that
Egyptian hieroglyphs
The word hieroglyphic comes from the Greek adjective ἱερογλυφικός ( hieroglyphikos ), [ 1 ] a compound of ἱερός ( hierós 'sacred') [ 2 ] and γλύφω ( glýphō 'Ι carve, engrave'; see glyph ) [ 3 ] . The glyphs themselves were called τὰ ἱερογλυφικ
John Edward Fletcher
do his PhD under Dr Claus Viktor Bock on the 17th century German polymath and polyglot Father Athanasius Kircher . His first task was to come to grip with Kircher 's vast body of writings on most branches of learning of his age, for example: mathematics , astronomy , music , oriental languages
Nestorian Stele
The Nestorian Stele (also known as the Nestorian Stone , Nestorian Monument , [ 1 ] or Nestorian Tablet ) is a Tang Chinese stele erected in 781 that documents 150 years of history of early Christianity in China . [ 2 ] It is a 279-cm tall limestone block with text in both Chinese and
Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is part of an Ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele with engraved text that provided the key to modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs . The inscription records a decree that was issued at Memphis in 196 BCE on behalf of King Ptolemy V . The decree appears in
Jean-François Champollion
Champollion deciphered the hieroglyphs with the help of groundwork laid by his predecessors: Athanasius Kircher , Silvestre de Sacy , Johan David Akerblad , Thomas Young himself, and William John Bankes . Champollion translated parts of the Rosetta Stone in 1822, showing that the Egyptian
Oedipus Aegyptiacus
The three full folio tomes of ornate illustrations and diagrams were published in Rome over the period 1652-54. Kircher claimed that his sources for Oedipus Aegyptiacus were Chaldean astrology , Hebrew kabbalah , Greek myth, Pythagorean mathematics , Arabian alchemy and Latin philology
Library of Sir Thomas Browne
No single document gives better evidence of the erudition of Sir Thomas Browne , physician, philosopher and encyclopedist than the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of the Library of Sir Thomas Browne . It also provides an insight into the proliferation, distribution and availability of books
Ancient Egyptian literature
Ancient Egyptian literature has been preserved on a wide variety of media. This includes papyrus scrolls and packets, limestone or ceramic ostraca , wooden writing boards, monumental stone edifices and coffins . Texts preserved and unearthed by modern archaeologists represent a small fraction
Decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs
by Coptic priests in their time. Arabic manuscripts of Ibn Wahshiyya's work were later read by Athanasius Kircher in the 17th century, and then translated and published in English by Joseph Hammer in 1806 as Ancient Alphabets and Hieroglyphic Characters Explained; with an Account of the
