Famous Wizards that even Muggle history knows about

[ellen_fremedon]

No: HPFGUIDX 40943

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "catlady_de_los_angeles" <catlady at w...> 
wrote:

> Meanwhile, I wonder if Athanasius Kirchner was a wizard? Having first 
> read of him in something by Umberto Ecco, I still have doubts whether 
> he really did ever exist.

He did exist, though there's no 'n' in the last name.  Quoting 
_Forgotten Scripts_, by Cyrus Gordon:

"A Jesuit professor of philosophy, mathematics, and Oriental languages, 
Athanasius Kircher (1601-80) published in 1636 a study on Coptic in 
which he expressed his conviction that Coptic was a continuation of the 
ancient Egyptian language in alphabetic script.  He was right, and the 
fact that he recognized was destined to provide the linguistic 
background for the decipherment of the hieroglyphs long afterwards when 
the time was right." (p. 25)

Sounds to me like he could have been a wizard.
Ellen


MOD NOTE:  As this thread has begun to veer away from canon, please move any further discussion in this vein to OT-Chatter.  Thanks!