CUPERUS,G. Gisb. Cuperi Harpocrates, sive Explicatio imagunculae argenteae perantiquae, quae in figuram Harpocratis formata representat Solem. Ejusdem Monumenta antiqua inedita. Multi auctorum loci, multae inscriptiones, marmora, nummi, gemmae, varii ritus, & antiquitates in utroque opusculo emendantur & illustrantur. Accedit Stephani Le Moine Epistola de Melanophoris. Utrecht (Trajecti ad Rhenum), Apud Franciscum Halma, Acad. Typogr., 1687. 4to. (VIII),294,(14 index) p., frontispiece, 6 plates, of which 5 folding, text engravings. Vellum. 20.5 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 833724266; Brunet 6, no. 22603; Cicognara 3212; Ebert 5512; Graesse 2,308) (Details: 5 thongs laced through both joints. Engraved frontispiece, it depicts Harpocrates standing on a pedestal, around him gods like Apollo, Hermes, Serapis and Isis, and in the foreground Tempus, who shovels for Egyptian antiquities. Title printed in red and black. Woodcut printer's mark on the title, motto: 'vivitur in genio', 'only through his genius man survives'. 3 woodcut headpieces, 3 cul de lampe vignettes, text engravings on 39 pages, small woodcuts on 2 pages; 6 plates depicting ancient monuments) (Condition: Vellum soiled and slightly stained. Front flyleaf gone) (Note: This title of 1687 is a philological tour de force of the Dutch classical scholar Gisbertus Cuper, or Cuperus, in Dutch Gijsbert Kuiper, 1644-1716. He was professor of Latin and Greek literature at the 'Athenaeum Illustre' of Deventer from 1668 till 1681, and at the same time mayor of this old city, which once had been a member of the Hanseatic League. Cuper has his own lemma on Wikipedia, in Dutch only. In this title Cuper examines a deity of Egyptian origin, Harpocrates, who was imported into Rome in the second century B.C., and who was connected with the mystery cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis. Cuper's research began, he tells us in the preface, with a small silver statuette which he saw in the famous collection of his friend (and scholar) Johannes Smetius, whom he visited in 1674 in Nijmegen. The statuette was found in the ground of the collector's hometown Nijmegen. It is a sculpture of a small boy, almost naked, and with a lotus flower on his head. He is winged and wears a small quiver on his back; the boy holds the index finger of his right hand against his lips, as if to enjoin silence. (p. 1: 'manus dextrae digito indice premit vocem, & silentia suadet') From his right arm hangs a small bucket (situla), and around his left arm coils a snake. His left hand rests on a club, around which another snake coils, and to which a goose has been attached. At the boy's right foot sits a rabbit or hare. At his left foot a small bird of prey (accipiter vel alia avis). (p. 2) As soon as Cuper saw this aenigmatic figurine, he decided to examine it, for he could not imagine that all those attributes had been added without any intention. He recognized the boy from a Egyptian hieroglyph as Harpocration, whom Egyptian superstition brought to Rome. He immediately realized also that this boy did not ask for silence (non silentium tantum digito suadens), but that he represented the Sun (verum Solis imaginem referens). (p. 2) In the rest of the book Cuper closely examines all the relevant passages concerning Harpocrates' iconography in ancient authors, in mythology, on gemmae, coins, inscriptions, amulets etc., to prove his point, that Harpocrates's finger was misunderstood, from the Roman scholar Varro to Augustine, and that the boy was not a diety of Silence at all. The boy did not ask for silence, he argues, but was a representation of the rising sun, because the ancient Egyptians greeted and honoured it's appearance by pressing their index finger against their lips. The 'Harpocrates' was first published in 1676 in Amsterdam 'apud Theodorum Pluymer'. This 1687 edition is a reissue, considerably augmented with 'Gisberti Cuperi Monumenta antiqua inedita' (ca. 70 pages) in which Cuper discusses recent finds. He offers a description and image of the finds, and tries to explain matters with the help of ancient sources and the work of contemporary scholars. At the end has also been added 'Ad Gisb. Cuperum De Melanphoris epististola' (30 pages) written by the French orientalist Stephanus Le Moine, 1624-1689, who lectured in Leiden from 1676. His letter is a treatise on the black clothes (melamphoroi), which the members of the Isis fraternities wore when they lamented the fate of their goddess. This book of Cuper is tough reading, the Latin is difficult and it abounds in philological pedantry. The Latin text of the second part of the book, Cuper's 'Monumenta antiqua inedita', can be found on: stilus.nl/cuper/, where one can also download a translation of it into Dutch by Leo Nellissen, who is an expert on Smetius) (Collation: *4 (including frontispiece); A-Z4, Aa-Pp4, Qq2) (Photographs on request)
Book number: 151911 Euro 640.00

Keywords: (Oude Druk), (Rare Books), Dutch imprints, Egypt, Isis, Provincial Roman Archaeology, Provinzialrömische Archäologie, Roman art and archaeology, Roman religion, antike altertum antiquity, religion, römische Kunst und Archäologie, römische Religion, Ägypten