Lectures
The Mensa Isiaca: a monument to the Christian Faith – Jean Winand
info@museitorino.it
011 44 06 903
From Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
On Thursday 6th March 2025, at 6.30 pm, in collaboration with ACME (Amici e Collaboratori del Museo Egizio) we will host the lecture held by Jean Winand: "The Mensa Isiaca: a monument to the Christian Faith".
The discovery of the Mensa Isiaca (or Tabula Bembina) in the beginning of the 16th century gave a renewed impetus to hieroglyphic frenzy in Western Europe. This piece of work, which was during two centuries credited with the utmost antiquity, is actually a Roman artefact of the 1st century AD that probably played some role in the cult of Isis. Humanists were however persuaded it could give the clue to the deciphering of hieroglyphs. Father Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) gave the Mensa Isiaca a place of choice in his studies. According to him, the Mensa was proof that the Egyptians had kept a significant part of the Christian wisdom as transmitted by God to Adam. A scarab with a human head, which is on the lower side ridge of the Mensa, played a major role in his reconstruction of the transmission of the Faith. Curiously enough, this figure has been reproduced on four 17th-18th century Arabic manuscripts of the pseudo-Ibn Wahshiyya’s treaty on the secret writings.
Born in 1962, Jean Winand is Professor ordinarius at the University of Liège. He was Dean of the Faculty of Letters (2011-2017), and First vice-Rector of the University (2018-2022). Laureate of the Annual Prize of the Royal Academy of Belgium, of the Quinquennial Prize of the Belgium University Foundation, and of the Anneliese Maier Forschungspreis (von Humboldt Stiftung, Germany). He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Belgium. In 2024-2025, he will be visiting professor at the Collège de France (Paris), the University of Torino, and Charles University in Prague. He is a UNESCO chair holder since 2021.
His main research areas are the hieroglyphic writing, the languages and literature of Ancient Egypt. He has extensively published on the questions of time and aspect in Ancient Egyptian and on several issues in syntax and lexical semantics. He is also interested in the reception of the hieroglyphic writing in the Renaissance and the Baroque Era, with a particular focus on the works of the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher. He is the initiator of the Ramses project, a richly annotated corpus of all Late Egyptian texts, founded in 2007, which he runs together with Stéphane Polis.
The event will be held in English, admission is free with a reservation on Eventbrite. Click HERE to book your place.
The lecture will be broadcast via streaming on the Museum's Facebook page and Youtube channel
The discovery of the Mensa Isiaca (or Tabula Bembina) in the beginning of the 16th century gave a renewed impetus to hieroglyphic frenzy in Western Europe. This piece of work, which was during two centuries credited with the utmost antiquity, is actually a Roman artefact of the 1st century AD that probably played some role in the cult of Isis. Humanists were however persuaded it could give the clue to the deciphering of hieroglyphs. Father Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) gave the Mensa Isiaca a place of choice in his studies. According to him, the Mensa was proof that the Egyptians had kept a significant part of the Christian wisdom as transmitted by God to Adam. A scarab with a human head, which is on the lower side ridge of the Mensa, played a major role in his reconstruction of the transmission of the Faith. Curiously enough, this figure has been reproduced on four 17th-18th century Arabic manuscripts of the pseudo-Ibn Wahshiyya’s treaty on the secret writings.
Born in 1962, Jean Winand is Professor ordinarius at the University of Liège. He was Dean of the Faculty of Letters (2011-2017), and First vice-Rector of the University (2018-2022). Laureate of the Annual Prize of the Royal Academy of Belgium, of the Quinquennial Prize of the Belgium University Foundation, and of the Anneliese Maier Forschungspreis (von Humboldt Stiftung, Germany). He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Belgium. In 2024-2025, he will be visiting professor at the Collège de France (Paris), the University of Torino, and Charles University in Prague. He is a UNESCO chair holder since 2021.
His main research areas are the hieroglyphic writing, the languages and literature of Ancient Egypt. He has extensively published on the questions of time and aspect in Ancient Egyptian and on several issues in syntax and lexical semantics. He is also interested in the reception of the hieroglyphic writing in the Renaissance and the Baroque Era, with a particular focus on the works of the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher. He is the initiator of the Ramses project, a richly annotated corpus of all Late Egyptian texts, founded in 2007, which he runs together with Stéphane Polis.
The event will be held in English, admission is free with a reservation on Eventbrite. Click HERE to book your place.
The lecture will be broadcast via streaming on the Museum's Facebook page and Youtube channel
info@museitorino.it
011 44 06 903
From Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
