Athanasius Kircher’s Construction Of The Hieroglyphic Tradition

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview on the controversy over the sex of the giants in Baroque Universities. The dissemination of occult knowledge by tradition could be legitimized in different way in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The chapter discusses about the giant in the theology of the patristic and medieval times. The rise of empiricism in the early 16th century provides the first discussion on the historical reality of the Giants and their aftermath at the universities. Paracelsus was perhaps the first natural philosopher, who frees the giants of their demonic origin, but he leaves them in his philosophical system, a spirit nature. The discussion of the giants in the early modern period provides a micro perspective on transformation processes observed at the end of the 16th century and the early 17th century at many universities in Europe. The original text of the chapter is in German.Keywords: Baroque Universities; early modern period; Europe; giants; Middle Ages; occult knowledge