Isis in Bologna: Hieroglyphica and Aegyptiaca in Bologna's book collections between the 16th and 17th centuries

Abstract

The rediscovery of the ancient Egyptian civilization is a distinctive feature of humanistic culture. This Egyptomania, which extends also to the seventeenth and the subsequent centuries, is well documented in early printed books and focuses on two symbolic objects: the Late Roman treatise on hieroglyphs Hieroglyphica by Horapollo and the Tablet of Isis (Mensa Isiaca), a late imperial age pseudo-Goddess altar. This work outlines the editorial adventures of those publications illustrating and popularizing a textual and graphical corpus that well represents the baroque intellectual imaginary about Ancient Egypt, particularly focusing on antiques collections and editorial activities of a close scholars network in Bologna in the XVII century.

Keywords

• book history
• press history
• iconology
• isis
• hieroglyphs
• bologna