Horapollo
Horapollo (from
Life
Horapollo is mentioned by the Suda (ω 159) as one of the last leaders of the Egyptian priesthood at a school in Menouthis, near Alexandria, during the reign of Zeno (AD 474–491).
According to the Suda, Horapollo had to flee because he was accused of plotting a revolt against
Horapollo wrote commentaries on
Hieroglyphica
The text of the Hieroglyphica consists of two books, containing a total of 189 explanations of Egyptian hieroglyphs. The books profess to be a translation from an Egyptian original into Greek by a certain Philippus, of whom nothing is known. The inferior Greek of the translation, and the character of the additions in the second book point to its being of late date; some have even assigned it to the 15th century.[1] The text was discovered in 1419 on the island of Andros, and was taken to Florence 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 and was translated into Latin by Giorgio Valla (in ms. Vat. lat. 3898). The first printed edition of the text appeared in 1505 (published by Manuzio), and was translated into Latin in 1517 by Filippo Fasanini, 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 the Egyptian priesthood of the 5th century.[3]
Though a very large proportion of the statements seem absurd and cannot be accounted for by anything known in the latest and most fanciful usage, there is ample evidence in both books, in individual cases, that the tradition of the values of the hieroglyphic signs was not yet extinct in the days of their author.[1]
This approach of symbolic speculation about hieroglyphs (many of which were originally simple
The second part of book II treats animal symbolism and allegory, essentially derived from Aristotle, Aelian, Pliny and Artemidorus, and is probably an addition by the Greek translator.
Editions by C. Leemans (1835) and A. T. Cory (1840) with English translation and notes; see also G. Rathgeber in Ersch and Gruber's Allgemeine Encyclopädie; H. Schafer, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache (1905), p. 72.[1]
Select editions
- Aldus Manutius, Venice 1505 (editio princeps)
- George Boas, New York 1950 (English translation), reprinted 1993 ISBN 0-691-00092-1.
- Orapollo, I geroglifici, Rizzoli, Milan 1996 ISBN 88-17-16997-8.
See also
- Athanasius Kircher
- Hermes Trismegistos
References
- ^ a b c d public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Horapollon". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 691. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ISBN 978-1-351-92323-1. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
- ISBN 0-00-686378-7), chapter 7: The Perfect language of Images
- ISBN 978-0-674-58739-7.
- Dorman, Peter F.; Brunner, Hellmut. "hieroglyphic writing". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
External links
- A translation of Horapollo's entry in Suda
- The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo, tr. Cory 1840
- Horapollo (studiolum.com)
- Horapollo, Delli segni hierogliphici, Venecia 1547 etext of Ferrari's edition (studiolum.com)
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