The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo Nilous: Hieroglyphic Semantics in Late Antiquity

by Mark Wildish

Overview

The main aim of this book is to reconstruct a philosophical context for the Hieroglyphica of Horapollo, a late 5^th 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367594220
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/14/2020
Series:	Issues in Ancient Philosophy
Pages:	182
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Mark Wildish is Tutor / Honorary Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Hong Kong.

Table 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