Athanasius Kircher: sunflower timepiece / syncretized Isis

Sunflower as Watch. From Athanasius Kircher, Magnes Siue Arte Magnetica (Köln, 1643). Reproduced from the original in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress.



Mother Nature, or Syncretized Isis. From Athanasius Kircher, Oedipus Aegyptiacus (Rome, 1652). Reproduced courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Isis' titles as gathered by Kircher equate her with the Mother of the Gods (Cybele), Minerva, Venus, Juno, Proserpina, Ceres, Diana, Mother Earth (Rhea), war-goddess Bellona, Hecate, the Moon, and the "polymorphous Daemon."

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