Wer hat den ersten emblematischen Stein zum Rollen gebracht? Eine quellengeschichtliche Untersuchung zur Entstehung der literarischen Emblematik.

This source history article deals with the emergence and flourishing of emblematic literature in 16th and 17th century in Europe. The emblem is a literary form consisting of a trio: the image (icon), the motto, and an evocative explaining text that connects the image to the motto. The paper shows that on the threshold of modern times, Europe's fondness for ancient Egyptian culture and hieroglyphics had the greatest influence on the emergence of this genre. The paper traces the emergence of emblematics to the publication in 1505 of a book entitled The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo Nilous, which contained a series of hieroglyphs accompanied by a title and explanation. The book was enthusiastically received in Europe and widely imitated. This gave rise to the great art of emblematics. The aspect that the article emphasizes is that with this book the first stone was rolled on the way to the emergence of literary emblematics. If one agrees almost unanimously in Europe connect the merit in the emergence of emblematics with the name of the Italian legal scholar Alciatus, the hieroglyphics of Horapollon come - if at all - too briefly. The meaning of this book is - as some think - very marginal. The almost exclusive return of the emblematic literature the book written by Alciatus in 1531 entitled Emblematum liber does not take into account the historical development of the genre. The contribution should be understood as a small rehabilitation of the Hieroglyphics of Horapollo Nilous..