Evans, Harry B. (Author)
University of Michigan Press
Physical Details: pp.; ill.; maps; bibl.; index
Language: English
Exploring the Kingdom of Saturn assesses a pioneering study of ancient Latium by one of the most interesting figures in the history of learning, the Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher. Although Kircher's Latium, published in 1671, is not without errors in its reading of the ancient monuments and topography of the area around Rome, this highly influential work launched future topographical study of the Roman campagna. Harry B. Evans investigates Kircher's Latium, its methods and accuracy, its possible use as a reference now, the scholarly quarrel between Kircher and rival scholar Raffaello Fabretti, and the Vatican's publications committee's involvement with Latium. While Kircher himself is well known for his many publications on a wide variety of subjects---Egyptian hieroglyphs, linguistics, natural science, musicology, and the history of China---his work as an archaeologist and topographer has often been dismissed. But his Latium is worth a detailed assessment: not only was it an early attempt to link ancient literary and historical sources to physical evidence, with splendid illustrations and maps, but the book spurred enormous interest in the region, prompting a more sophisticated study of it by Kircher's contemporaries and later generations. Anyone interested in the history of archaeology, the world of seventeenth-century Italian antiquarians and scholars, and the fascinating region of Latium itself will want to learn more about Kircher's achievements and the scholarly legacy of his book.
...MoreDescription On Athanasius Kircher's work as an archaeologist and topographer.
Review Olshin, Benjamin B. (2013) Review of "Exploring the Kingdom of Saturn: Kircher's Latium and Its Legacy". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 163-164).
Similar Citations
Book
Ingrid Baumgärtner;
(2014)
Fürstliche Koordinaten: Landesvermessung und Herrschaftsvisualisierung um 1600
Book
Giordano Bertuzzi;
(2018)
La Garfagnana: Relazioni e conflitti nei secoli con gli stati e i territori confinanti
Book
Fletcher, John Edward;
Fletcher, Elizabeth;
Trompf, G. W.;
Kircher, Athanasius;
(2011)
A Study of the Life and Works of Athanasius Kircher, “Germanus incredibilis”: With a Selection of His Unpublished Correspondence and an Annotated Translation of His Autobiography
Book
Rößler, Hole;
Burkart, Lucas;
Asmussen, Tina;
Furrer, Frederik;
(2013)
Theatrum Kircherianum: Wissenskulturen und Bücherwelten im 17. Jahrhundert
Book
Glassie, John;
(2012)
A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change
Article
Guckelsberger, Kurt;
(2013)
Das moderne Kartenbild von Europa auf der Carta Itineraria Waldseemüllers von 1511/1520
Article
Giulio Magli;
Eugenio Realini;
Mirko Reguzzoni;
Daniele Sampietro;
(2014)
High-Precision GPS Survey of Via Appia: Archaeoastronomy-Related Aspects
Book
Hellyer, Marcus;
(2005)
Catholic Physics: Jesuit Natural Philosophy in Early Modern Germany
Article
Mimi Cheng;
(2024)
Tracing the shores of empire: Imperial visuality on the Chinese coast in the late-Qing era
Article
Mario Cams;
(2018)
Blurring the Boundaries: Integrating Techniques of Land Surveying on the Qing’s Mongolian Frontier
Article
Mario Cams;
(2017)
Converging interests and scientific circulation between Paris and Beijing (1685-1735): The path towards a new Qing cartographic practice
Article
Maurizio Torrini;
(2005)
Da Galileo a Kircher: percorsi della scienza gesuitica
Article
Luca Ciancio;
(2018)
“Immoderatus fervor ad intra coërcendus”: Reactions to Athanasius Kircher’s Central Fire in Jesuit Science and Imagination
Article
Waddell, Mark A.;
(2006)
The World, As It Might Be: Iconography and Probabilism in the Mundus subterraneus of Athanasius Kircher
Article
Francesco Luzzini;
(2013)
Il paradosso di Kircher (che paradosso non è)
Article
Ziller Camenietzki, Carlos;
(1995)
L'extase interplanétaire d'Athanasius Kircher: Philosophie, cosmologie et discipline dans la Compagnie de Jésus au XVIIe siècle
Article
Christopher M. Graney;
(2019)
How to Make the Earth Orbit the Sun in 1614
Article
Ingrid D. Rowland;
(2005)
Poetry and Prophecy in the Encyclopedic System of Athanasius Kircher
Chapter
Stolzenberg, Daniel;
(2006)
Utility, Edification, and Superstition: Jesuit Censorship and Athanasius Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus
Article
Carolino, Luís Miguel;
(2002)
Lux ex occidente--Un regard européen sur l'Inde au XVIIe siècle: Athanase Kircher et les récits des missionnaires jésuites sur science et religion indiennes
Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences
Bruniana & Campanelliana: Ricerche Filosofiche e Materiali Storico-testuali
Cartographica Helvetica
Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology
East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine
Be the first to comment!