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The main aim of this book is to reconstruct a philosophical context for the Hieroglyphica of Horapollo, a late 5th century Greek study of hieroglyphic writing. In addition to reviewing and drawing on earlier approaches it explores the range of signs and meanings for which Horapollo is interested in giving explanations, whether there are characteristic types of explanations given, what conception of language in general and of hieroglyphic Egyptian in particular the explanations of the meanings of the glyphs presuppose, and what explicit indications there are of having been informed or influenced by philosophical theories of meaning, signs, and interpretation.
List of contents
Preface
Introduction
1 The Text and Author of the Hieroglyphica
2 Linguistic Signs
2.1 The Historical Meaning of Egyptian Hieroglyphs
2.2 Meaning in Horapollo
2.3 Neoplatonic Theories of Meaning
3 Natural Signs
3.1 The Graeco-Roman Reception of the Tradition
3.2 Genre: Lexicon or Encyclopedia?
3.3 Natural and Artefactual Signs in Horapollo
4 Divine Symbols
4.1 The Christian-Pagan Controversy
4.2 The Allegory of Hieroglyphic Egyptian
4.3 Neoplatonic Hieroglyphics
5 The Cosmos of the Hieroglyphica
5.1 Horapollo’s Symbolic Hieroglyphs
5.2 Horapollo’s Metaphysics
5.3 Sensible Nature and the Intelligible Cosmos
Conclusion: Re-reading the Hieroglyphica
Appendixes
Appendix 1: Horapollo’s Hieroglyphs and their Meanings
Appendix 2: The Egyptian Content of the Hieroglyphica
Appendix 3: The Coptic Content of the Hieroglyphica
Bibliography
Text Editions
Secondary Texts
Other Primary Texts Cited
Other Secondary Texts Cited
About the author
Mark Wildish is Tutor / Honorary Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Hong Kong.
Summary
The main aim of this book is to reconstruct a philosophical context for the Hieroglyphica of Horapollo, a late 5th century Greek study of hieroglyphic writing. In addition to reviewing and drawing on earlier approaches it explores the range of signs and meanings for which Horapollo is interested in giving explanations.
