Horapollo

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Horapollo

Horapollo (from Horus
Horus

Horus is a god of the Ancient Egyptian religion, most commonly known by the Greek language version Horus, of the Egyptian language Heru/Har....
Apollo
Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
, ??ap?????) is supposed author of a treatise on Egyptian hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs was a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that contained a combination of logographic and alphabetic elements....
, extant in a Greek translation by one Philippus, titled Hieroglyphica, dating to about the 5th century.

pollo is mentioned by the Suda

Suda

The Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine Empire Medieval Greek historical encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world. It is an Encyclopedia lexicon with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often derived from medieval Christian compilers....
(? 159) as one of the last leaders of Ancient Egyptian priesthood, at a school in Menouthis

Menouthis

Menouthis was a sacred city in ancient Egypt, devoted to the Egyptian goddess and god Isis and Serapis. The city was submerged under water in the 8th century AD as a result of earthquakes or a Nile flood....
, near Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports....
, during the reign of Zeno

Zeno (emperor)

Flavius Zeno Perpetuus, original name Tarasicodissa or Trascalissaeus, Eastern Roman Empire was one of the more prominent of the early Byzantine Emperors....
(AD 474–491). According to Susa, Horapollo had to flee because he was accused of plotting a revolt against the Christians, and his temple to Isis

ISIS

ISIS is an industry standard interface for technologies, developed by Pixel Translations in 1990 .ISIS is an open standard for scanner control and a complete image-processing framework....
and Osiris

Osiris

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Encyclopedia

Egyptian hieroglyphs

Horapollo

Horapollo is mentioned by the Suda

Suda

Menouthis

Alexandria

Zeno (emperor)

ISIS

Osiris

Osiris was an Egyptian mythology, usually called the god of the Afterlife.Osiris is one of the oldest gods for whom records have been found; one of the oldest known attestations of his name is on the Palermo Stone of around 2500 BC....
was destroyed. Horapollo was later captured and after torture converted to Christianity. Another, earlier, Horapollo alluded to by the Suda was a grammarian from Phanebytis, under Theodosius II

Theodosius II

Flavius Theodosius , called the Calligrapher, known in English as Theodosius II, was an Eastern Roman Empire , mostly known for the law code bearing his name, the Codex Theodosianus, and the Walls of Constantinople#The Theodosian Walls of Constantinople built during his reign....
(AD 408–450). To this Horapollo the Hieroglyphica was attributed by most 16th century editors, although there were more occult opinions, identifying Horapollo with Horus

Horus

Horus is a god of the Ancient Egyptian religion, most commonly known by the Greek language version Horus, of the Egyptian language Heru/Har....
himself, or a with a pharaoh

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt, only during the New Kingdom, specifically, during the middle of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt....
.

Hieroglyphica

The text of the Hieroglyphica consists of two books, containing a total of 189 explanations of Egyptian hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs was a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that contained a combination of logographic and alphabetic elements....
. The text was discovered in 1422 on the island of Andros

Andros

Andros, or Andro , an island of the Greece archipelago, the most northerly of the Cyclades, approximately 10 km south east of Euboea, and about north of Tinos....
, and was taken to Florence

Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
by Cristoforo Buondelmonti (it is today kept at the Biblioteca Laurenziana, Plut. 69,27). By the end of the 15th century, the text became immensely popular among humanists, with a first printed edition of the text appearing in 1505, initiating a long sequence of editions and translations. From the 18th century, the book's authenticity was called into question, but modern Egyptology regards at least the first book as based on real knowledge of hieroglyphs, although confused, and with baroque symbolism and theological speculation, and the book may well originate with the latest remnants of Egyptian priesthood of the 5th century.

This approach of symbolic speculation about hieroglyphs (many of which were originally simple syllabic

Syllabary

A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent syllables, which make up words. A symbol in a syllabary typically represents an optional consonant sound followed by a vowel sound....
signs) was popular during Hellenism

Hellenistic civilization

File:Diadochen1.pngHellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Ancient Greece influence in the Classical Antiquity from 323 BC to about 146 BC ....
, whence the early Humanists, down to Athanasius Kirchner, inherited the preconception of the hieroglyphs as a magical, symbolic, ideographic script.

The second part of book II treats animal symbolism and allegory, essentially derived from Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greeks philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, Poetics , theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology....
, Aelian

Aelian

Aelian or Aelianus may refer to:*Aelianus Tacticus, Greek military writer of the 2nd century, who lived in Rome*Casperius Aelianus, Praetorian Prefect, executed by Trajan...
, Pliny

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient author, naturalist or natural philosopher and naval and military commander of some importance who wrote Natural History ....
and Artemidorus

Artemidorus

Artemidorus Daldianus or Ephesius was a professional diviner and author known for an extant five-volume Greek language work Oneirocritica, ....
, and are probably an addition by the Greek translator.

Select editions

Aldus Manutius
Aldus Manutius

Aldus Pius Manutius , the Latinized name of Teobaldo Mannucci, sometimes called Aldus Manutius, the Elder to distinguish him from his grandson, Aldus Manutius the Younger) was an Italian Renaissance humanism who became a printer and publisher when he founded the Aldine Press at Venice....
, Venice 1505 - editio princeps
Editio princeps

In classical scholarship, editio princeps is a term of art. It means, roughly, the first printed edition of a work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which were therefore circulated only after being copied by hand....
George Boas, New York 1950 (English translation), reprinted 1993 ISBN 0691000921.
Rizzoli, Milan 1996 ISBN 8817169978.

External links

(studiolum.com)
etext of Ferrari's edition (studiolum.com)

Horapollo

Horapollo

Hieroglyphica

Select editions

See also

External links