4. A timeline for hieroglyphs

INTRODUCTION

The next question is, how extensive were these ideas, in their various forms, and what importance did people give to it? This is where the time-line comes in. It is not an answer, just a map. I have omitted the often lengthy quotations from ancient sources and their humanist followers. For them, please consult previous sections of this essay.

I have not put tarot decks on this time-line. They have their own, well enough known. In general, I imagine no hieroglyphic influence before 1438 (if there were tarot cards then); I see perhaps a little, not very erudite, in the Cary-Yale (the kings at the bottom of the theological virtues). I see more in the PMB and a lot more in the Cary Sheet. In France, between the Noblet, c. 1650, and the Chosson, 1672, the influence is total. I am mainly talking about the "C" cards of Milan and France. It is there that I find the double vision of churchy allegories for the masses and erudite hieroglyphic mysteries for the few, a double vision which the popular illustrated emblem books later did not change. The "A" cards, at least as we have them, seem to me different, mostly only the usual moralistic, churchy allegories that were common even in the Middle Ages. Whether Florence had its own hieroglyphic tarot we'll probably never know--if it existed, the ravages of Savonarola may have destroyed it forever. I don't know enough about the "B" cards of Ferrara to say anything either way, but the Sola-Busca pips are almost certainly hieroglyphic.


THINGS ON THE TIMELINE I HAVE NOT TALKED ABOUT

I have put events on this time-line that are of less direct relevance to the Renaissance conception of hieroglyphs and which I have not talked about up til now. First, Chinese were in Florence in the 1430s; their pictograph-based language might have seemed to the humanists such as Toscanelli who came into contact with them to be similar to hieroglyphs and supportive of the idea of an ancient theology using pictures to communicate profound thoughts in a way similar to God's own thoughts. But since Chinese writing was for common use, it did not actually count as hieroglyphic, which for the humanists meant sacred writing known only to the wise.

Another thing I have not talked about is the interest in Egypt at that time. Ferrara put on an "Isis" production in 1444. And the Pope decorated his apartments with legends of Isis and Osiris and the sacred bull Serapis. This again is istricly speaking irrelevant, because hieroglyphs, as concerns the cards, are not Egyptian; they are universal and have particular imagery in particular places, even Christian imagery will do. However Egypt was one place where hieroglyphics were considered to have been used, as documented by Apuleius; so to that extent interest in Egypt is relevant to interest in hieroglyphs. Also, it is quite possible that Egyptian imagery, as much as it was known or imagined, did infuence the cards. But this is a different subject.

A third thing is Nicholas of Cusa's book De Docta Ignorantia (On Learned Ignorance), given to the public (and perhaps the Pope) in 1440. The title was taken from a passage in Augustine. In it Cusa says that God as such cannot be grasped by the mind. The closest we can come is through paradox and contradictory statements. This concept of a dialectical approach through language, until finally one has to discard language altogether, was much appreciated by Ficino and Pico. It fit in with their conception of hieroglyphs, similar to Plato's myths, as expressing the inexpressable, through contradictory apprehensions affirmed or seen simultaneously. 

TIME LINE: HIEROGLYPHICS IN ITALY, 1400-1531, AND WESTERN EUROPE 1532-1600

By 1400: Comments on hieroglyphs by Plutarch, Horodotus, Diodorus available in Greek. Clement of Alexandria available but apparently not quoted in 15th century. Possibly some of Plutarch’s Moralia describing hieroglyphs translated into Latin. Latin texts readily available and describing hieroglyphs include Martinus Capella, Lucan, Apuleius, Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, Macrobius, Isadore of Seville. Others, such as Eusebius, seem to have been available by mid-century.

1411: Plutarch, “Education of Children” (part of first book of Moralia), containing interpretations of enigmatic Pythagorean sayings or “symbola,” translated into Latin by Guarino of Verona. Guarino will go on to translate Strabo, a major source on Egypt but with only a few mentions of hieroglyphs. Guarino in 1429 moves to Ferrara, initially tutoring the 22 year old Leonello d’Este, from 1436 at University of Ferrara.

1417: Ammianus Marcellinus manuscript (in Latin) found by Poggio at St. Gall, discussing hieroglyphs. Taken to Florence, Niccolo has it transcribed (passage is included in appendix to Boas’ translation of Horapollo, or see http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/R ... n/17*.html, sec. 4). Niccolo also has Apuleius (in Latin), Herodotus, Tacitus (in Latin), some of Pliny the Elder (in Latin), and other texts describing hieroglyphs.

1422: Horapollo’s Hieroglyphica manuscript (in Greek) read by Pogio and Niccolo in Florence.

c. 1422-1430: Pogio identifies the inscriptions on obelisks in Rome as Egyptian hieroglyphs.

1420-1424: Cusa (til 1423) and Toscanelli at University of Padua, Alberti at Bologna. 1424 is when St. Bernardino was having his bonfires of cards, etc., in Bologna and elsewhere. I don't know if he came to Padua. At Padua Toscanelli becomes a lifetime friend of Cusa.

1420s: Many Greek manuscripts enter Florence and other Italian cities.


1424: Alberti writes Philodoxus, with 20 scenes plus an introduction, and 20 characters, plus a narrator (per Huck's posts).

1426: Inventory of Visconti Library, Pavia, lists Clement of Alexandria’s Stromata among holdings, now lost. Also enigmatic alchemical works, i.e. Turba Philosophorum.

1433: Toscanelli reportedly meets Chinese ambassador in Florence (http://www.gavinmenzies.net/pages/evide ... denceID=11). Many Chinese living in Florence, using their ideogram-based letters..

1430s. Alberti dedicates Book I of his Dinner Pieces to Toscanelli.

c. 1432-1436: Alberti writes “Veiled Sayings,” describing Pythagoras-like sayings in terms similar to those in which he later describes hieroglyphs. The word used for these sayings is “symbola." He also writes “Rings,” describing 12 hieroglyph-like images of his design. Separately, he draws the “winged eye” image described there, which he shows to others and includes on a medal he did of himself, done 1436-1438.

1435-36: Cyriaco visits Egypt, including pyramids at Giza, copies hieroglyphs, may have taken with him a Latin abridgement of Horapollo. Later circulates travel journal.

1437: Alberti in Bologna for Ecumenical Council.

1437. Cusa goes to Constantinople to bring back representatives of the Eastern Church, e.g. Bessarion and Pletho; he also hunts for manuscripts. On return journey, Wikipedia says "Nicholas had a shipboard experience that led to his writing thereafter on metaphysical topics," reputedly referred to in the beginning of On Learned Ignorance.

1438: Alberti in Ferrara for Ecumenical Council, meets Leonello d’Este. Alberti probably shows an discusses his "winged eye" medal. Pisanello does a well-received medal of Eastern Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, finished 1439.

1438: Cusa arrives in Venice, then in Ferrara briefly for Council, then mostly in Germany June 1438-1448.

1439: Pogio completes his translation of Diodorus, including its comments on hieroglyphs already well known in Greek; circulated to humanists and other Latin-readers.

1440: Filelfo, who had been in Florence, moves to Milan, staying until 1470s.

1440. Cusa finishes On Learned Ignorance in February, comes to Florence March-April. Book is probably presented to the pope at that time. Circulates in manuscript copies from this date.

1440-144: Pisanello in Milan, does medals of Filippo, Francesco, Piccinino.

1443-: Pisanello in Ferrara, doing medals in enigmatic style

1443: Alberti advises equestrian monument competition in Ferrera.

1444: Filelfo writes letter mentioning Horapollo and meaning of “eel” hieroglyph.

1444-1445. Isis celebration in Ferrara, with Beatrice d'Este as "queen of the feast."

1440s: Alberti writes initial version of De Re Aedificatoria, saying later it was for Leonello. This book, as published in 1485, has a paragraph on hieroglyphs, based at least in part on Ammianus, and with citations of him by name elsewhere.

1452: Alberti submits De Re Aedificatoria to Pope Nicholas V. It probably enters Vatican Library and is copied for others elsewhere, such as Filarete in Milan. It is the first wholly architectural treatise since Vitrivius.

1447-1455: On commission of Nicholas V, numerous Greek manuscripts translated into Latin and made available to scholars in newly established Vatican Library. Around this same time Cosimo di Medici commissions the translations of texts, a practice continued by Piero and Lorenzo.

1449: Confirmed visit between Leonello d’Este and Cyriaco.

c. 1452: Filarete moves to Milan, soon starting his treatise on architecture, which will include a dialogue between Filarete and unnamed duke discussing hieroglyphs. Credits Filelfo and has his interpretation of “eel” hieroglyph, probably derived, with some distortion, from Horapollo.

1464: Filarete publishes his treatise crediting Filelfo for “eel” hieroglyph interpretation; numerous uncited references to Alberti’s treatise on architecture plus comments praising Alberti by name. Also numerous references to Diodorus.

1465-1485: Giorgio Valla, from Milan, at Pavia. Tutors the sons of Francesco Sforza. Much translation from Greek to Latin. At some point does Horodotus and Horapollo. Moves to Venice for professorship in 1485, dies there 1500.The manuscript of his Latin Horapollo is in the Biblioteca Trivulziana, Milan, ms. 2154, according to Roberto Weiss.

1468: Sweynheym and Pannartz in Rome publish Bessarion’s In calumniatorum Platonis, which argues that Plato, anticipating Christianity, concealed in allegory and paradox that which cannot be expressed discursively and must be hidden from the ignorant. Bessarion earlier, 1440s, ran an informal "academy" in Rome, and was papal prelate in Bologna, 1450-1455. His famous (or infamous) 1452 letter to the sons of Pletho, comparing heaven to the Eleusinian mysteries, is a sample of that earlier time.

1460s: Ficino and Politiano read Plotinus, Clement of Alexandria, Proclus, Iamblichus among others who refer to hieroglyphs and sacred writings in Platonic terms. Starting 1463, Ficino comments on them (but not on Clement’s hieroglyph passage); complete work published 1492. Politiano later cited (by Valeriano) as an early authority on hieroglyphs.

1480s: High demand for Roman coins among the privileged. E.g. Matteo Boiardo writes Ercole d'Este about a new find (reported by Weiss).

1480s: Ferrarino, in Bologna and elsewhere in Northern Italy, composes manuscripts exhibiting numerous obelisk hieroglyphs. Some (e.g. Weiss) think he was also circulating the Latin abridgement of Horapollo now in Naples.

1486: Final version of Alberti’s De Re Aedificatoria published, with hieroglyph passage and numerous citations of Ammianus.

1486: Mantegna starts his Trumphs of Caesar in Mantua, with Egyptian-style hieroglyphs on background monuments.

1486: Pico’s 900 Theses published, each of which is a cryptic short statement, i.e. a symbola (= hieroglyph, as defined by Valeriano later). Writes his Oration, which explains importance of enigmatic writing, relates to Pythagorean symbola. Suppressed until 1494.

1487: All copies of 900 Theses ordered burned by Pope Innocent VIII.

1489: Ficino publishes his Three books on life, which discusses St. Rufinus of Aquilea's comment on the “cross” hieroglyph in pre-Christian Alexandria.

1492: Ficino publishes translation of Plotinus and commentary, including remarks on the sacred dimension of hieroglyphs as expressing the language of God.

1480s-90s: Leonardo da Vinci does numerous paintings in enigmatic style, at first in Florence, then 1482-1500 in Milan. Georgione similarly in Venice, next decade.

1492. Rodrigo Borgia elected Pope Alexander VI. The Catholic Encyclopedia observes, "All we can affirm with certainty is that the determining factor of this election was the accession to Borgia of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza's vote and influence."  

1493: Fabricated relief in Viterbo dubbed by Annius (its fabricator) as an Etruscan hieroglyph commemorating Osiris’s rule there. Annius traces Pope’s ancestry to Osiris. In 1580 the city of Viterbo will erect a plaque repeating Annius’s claims, despite objections to Annius long before then from some humanists.

1493-1495: Pinturricio does Osiris frescoes in Borgia Apartments, Vatican.

1494: Pico’s Oration allowed to be published, as well as his 900 Theses.

1496. Pio's Annotationes published in Mantua, with discussion of hiroglyphs. 

1499: Hypnerotomachia published by Aldus in Venice, with numerous visual hieroglyphs, called by author emblematura, meaning “mosaic work.” This work may have had limited circulation in manuscript since 1467.

1480s to 1490s: Beroaldo gives students in Bologna an abridged Horapollo plus other writers interpreting hieroglyphs.

1500: Beroaldo’s book on Apuleius, including commentary on the comments on hieroglyphs, published in Bologna.

1504: Gentile Bellini paints St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria in Venice, with hieroglyphics on background obelisk, taken from Hypnerotomachia.

1508: Beroaldo’s essay on Pythagoras’s symbola published posthumously.

1505: Greek text of Horapollo published by Aldus.

1508: Erasmus’s Adagia describing hieroglyphs in first entry, published by Aldus.

1509: Greek text of Plutarch’s Moralia published by Aldus.

1510s: High demand for Greco-Roman statues, reliefs, sarcophagi among the privileged in Rome, especially the clergy, as reported by Weiss.

1514: Manuscript of Pirckheimer’s Latin translation of Horapollo with Durer’s illustrations presented to Emperor Maximilian I. 1518, woodcut of Maximilian surrounded by hieroglyphs, composed by Pirckheimer and designed by Durer.

1517-1522: Latin translations of Horapollo published: Fasanini, Bologna 1517; Trebatius, Strassburg 1518; Beroaldo posthumously, Bologna 1522. Fasanini includes an appendix quoting other ancient authors, possibly deriving from when he was Boroaldo's student. Fasanini also published translations of other ancient works dealing with natural signs.

1531: Alciato's Liber Emblematum published in Augsburg, from manuscript lacking pictures, engravings apparently added by publisher without request or review by Alciato. Reprinted with corrected illustrations and 9 more emblems in Paris 1534, in French 1536; 86 more added 1546; various versions 16th and 17th centuries. Born near Milan, he was educated at Pavia and Bologna 1507-1518, then taught in Avignon til 1522, then back to Milan, then Avignon and Bourges 1527-1533, then Pavia 1533 on.

1543: French translation of Horapollo, with illustrations.

1544: Latin translation of Plutarch’s De Isis et Osiride published in collected works of Cielo Calcagnini under the title Rebus Aegypticus. This work done in Rome 1507-1519, according to Giehlow, endorsed by Manning.

1546: French translation of Hypnerotomachia with revised illustrations, reprinted frequently.

1547: Italian translation of Horapollo.

1551: Cartari, Imagini, in Latin. Illustrations added 1581 and in translations after that.

1556: Valeriano's Hieroglyphica published in Latin, stating explicitly that hieroglyphs include sayings, parables of Jesus, etc. as well as cryptic visual images. Nearly 1000 pages, mostly unillustrated.

Other 16th century emblem books: 1552, Aneau, Lyon, Imagination poetique. 1560, Paradin, Devises Heroiques. 1562, Landi, Costanzo (conte) Lettera dell'illustre S. Costanzo Landi, conte di Compiano. 1562, Ammirato, Naples, Il Rota overo dell'imprese. 1562, Giovio, Lyon, Sententiose imprese. 1564, Sambicus, Antwerp, Emblemata. 1586, Whitney, Leyden,A choice of emblemes (in English). 1593, Ripa, Iconologia. These, and two others without author, are viewable at http://www.digitalbookindex.com/subject ... blembksa/2.