Big find for anyone tracking early images of Dahshur: Athanasius Kircher's 1652 Egypt work reprints a small diagram by Tito Burattini that appears to be the earliest known depiction of the exterior of the Red, Bent and Step Pyramids. The scale is badly off, but the layout roughly works, the Bent Pyramid is unmistakable, and the drawing even marks the shaft tomb openings where mummies were taken — between the Red and Step Pyramids 🧐
Kircher's 1652 book reproduces Tito Burattini's early diagram of the Dahshur pyramids
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Key facts
- Athanasius Kircher's 1652 work on Egypt reprints a small diagram by Tito Burattini, which the presenter identifies as the earliest known representation of the exterior of the Red, Bent and Step Pyramids.
- The picture's caption places the group about 10 Italian miles south of Giza; showing both Saqqara and Dahshur allows the location to be oriented.
- The scale is described as badly wrong, though the general layout is roughly correct, and the drawing shows the openings of the shaft tombs where mummies were obtained, between the Red and Step Pyramids.
- The Bent Pyramid is unmistakably recognizable in the image; the Red Pyramid's entrance is drawn too high up on its north side; the Step Pyramid appears with a pyramidion, which the presenter notes it is not known to have had.
- The diagram shows that early travelers grouped Dahshur and Saqqara together as a single region, everything from the Step Pyramid southwards being called en masse the Pyramids of the Mummies.
Sources
Oedipus Egypticusaquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com
The three door-step sized tomes of Oedipus Aegyptiacus are a triumph of printing, being over five years in completion (Rome 1652 -56).
Oedipus Aegyptiacus: Egyptian world systemdigital.library.cornell.edu
Title: Oedipus Aegyptiacus: Egyptian world system ; Collection: Images from the Rare Book and Manuscript Collections ; Creator: Kircher, Athanasius, 1602-1680
Athanasii Kircheri Oedipus Aegyptiacus Vol I 1652archive.org
Athanasii Kircheri Oedipus Aegyptiacus Vol I 1652 ; Collection: masonic_library; patron-library-collection ; Language: Volapük ; Item Size: 2.4G.
Oedipus aegyptiacus Stock Photos and Imagesalamy.com
Find the perfect oedipus aegyptiacus stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. Available for both RF and RM licensing.
Oedipus Aegyptiacusen.wikipedia.org
Oedipus Aegyptiacus is Athanasius Kircher's supreme work of Egyptology. The three full folio tomes of ornate illustrations and diagrams were published in ...
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