@article{1380670,
      author = {Evans, Harry B.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/1380670},
      title = {Exploring the Kingdom of Saturn : Kircher's Latium and its  legacy /},
      publisher = {University of Michigan Press,},
      abstract = {"Exploring the Kingdom of Saturn assesses a pioneering  study of ancient Latium by one of the most interesting  figures in the history of learning, the Jesuit polymath  Athanasius Kircher. Although Kircher's Latium, published in  1671, is not without errors in its reading of the ancient  monuments and topography of the area around Rome, this  highly influential work launched future topographical study  of the Roman campagna. Harry B. Evans investigates  Kircher's Latium, its methods and accuracy, its possible  use as a reference now, the scholarly quarrel between  Kircher and rival scholar Raffaello Fabretti, and the  Vatican's publications committee's involvement with Latium.  While Kircher himself is well known for his many  publications on a wide variety of subjects--Egyptian  hieroglyphs, linguistics, natural science, musicology, and  the history of China--his work as an archaeologist and  topographer has often been dismissed. But his Latium is  worth a detailed assessment: not only was it an early  attempt to link ancient literary and historical sources to  physical evidence, with splendid illustrations and maps,  but the book spurred enormous interest in the region,  prompting a more sophisticated study of it by Kircher's  contemporaries and later generations. Anyone interested in  the history of archaeology, the world of  seventeenth-century Italian antiquarians and scholars, and  the fascinating region of Latium itself will want to learn  more about Kircher's achievements and the scholarly legacy  of his book."--},
      recid = {1380670},
      pages = {236 pages :},
      address = {Ann Arbor :},
      year = {2012},
}