Symbolica
The engraved title of the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae

The engraved title of the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae

The Sun and the Moon as the central motif, with the Divine and Fire in a secondary part. From Amphitheatrum.

Heinrich Khunrath, designer, 1609. Engraving.

Public Domain Mark, 1609 printing · Web copy 869 by 1400 px · Internet Archive, Wellcome Library copy, hand coloured, leaf 14

What is happening

Heinrich Khunrath, 1609 “Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, solius verae, Christiano-Kabalisticum, Divino-Magicum, nec non Physico-Chymicum, Tertriunum, Catholicon.” Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, the engraved title, the words in the oval.

Symbolica, 2026 Khunrath's Latin, put into English here: The Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom, the only true one, Christian-Kabbalistic, Divine-Magical, and also Physico-Chemical, Threefold-One, Universal. The two words at the foot of the pillars are Sol and Luna, and the copy is the Wellcome Library's hand-coloured one.

Key · 3 motifs

The motifs the picture carries, filed by role. The marks on the picture itself come with the entry.

  1. 1The Sun and the Mooncentral motif as it reads here: The engraved title of the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae
  2. 2The Divinesecondary motif
  3. 3Firesecondary motif

The picture

The title in an oval wreath between two pillars, SOL at the left foot and LUNA at the right, the Hebrew name in a cloud above, and Khunrath in a medallion at the top. By eye

Not yet decoded: the motifs are tagged by eye and the readings above are quoted from their sources. The marks on the picture and the sourced notes come with the entry.

Also carrying the Sun and the Moon

31 works carry it. The 6 where it is the central motif are here. The symbol.

Where the detail is the subject

the Divine · Fire

Each of these is in the picture without being what it is about. Below, one work that is about each.

In the same series

Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, 1609

Record

Source
Internet Archive, Wellcome Library copy, hand coloured, leaf 14
Rights
Public Domain Mark, 1609 printing
Restoration
None. A 869 by 1400 pixel web copy made from the source file; nothing retouched, nothing upscaled.
Series
Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, 1609
Artist
Heinrich Khunrath, physician and theosopher of Leipzig, about 1560 to 1605, who designed the plates of the Amphitheatrum and wrote their captions; the Oratory and Laboratory was engraved by Paullus van der Doort
Titled here
The engraved title of the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae. Internet Archive catalogues it as: The engraved title of the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, from Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, Hanau 1609
Checked
the Internet Archive item metadata for both copies, 4 September 2026: Khunrath as author, Hanau, G. Antonius, 1609; the Paris copy under Licence ouverte and the Wellcome copy under the Public Domain Mark. The plate captions were read off the page images and are quoted only as far as they could be read. Not seen in the hand.
By email · free

One symbol a week, decoded.

This picture is free at full size from its source, linked above. What an address gets is the Sunday letter: one picture, one symbol marked on it, what it meant and who said so, and the master files of the decoded plates as they are verified. Leave any time.

Cite
Symbolica, “The engraved title of the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae”, Heinrich Khunrath, designer, 1609. thesymbolica.com/work/the-engraved-title-of-the-amphitheatrum-sapientiae-aeternae/