- Title: Monstrum Ravennense et al
- Author: Athanasius Kircher
- Date: 1678
- Medium: Hand-colored copperplate engraving
- Condition: Very Good - light age toning and foxing, minor scuffing and surface dirt, crease across bottom right corner of image
- Inches: 9 x 14 [Image]
- Centimeters: 22.86 x 35.56 [Image]
- Product ID: 312002
Depiction of various monsters from myth and legend. Kircher provides their names and descriptions, including the years and locations in which they were discovered.
Monstrum Ravennense An: 1511. Monstrum Ravennense An: 1511 alia forma
The monster of Ravenna appeared in 1511 or very early 1512 near the city of Ravenna in the northeast of Italy. This creature (most probably a child which suffered from severe birth defects) was seen initially as an omen of God's wrath, related in particular to the Battle of Ravenna fought in 1512 between joint Papal-Spanish forces and the French and Ferrarese armies. However, as time went on, many speculated that the monster held larger implications related to the Protestant Reformation. The two figures in the upper register of the page represent two different interpretations of this legend.
Monstrum tetrachiron Hungaricum. An. 1577.
"Four-armed monster of Hungary in the year 1577."
Monstrum alatum et cornutum instar Daemonis.
"Monster with the wings and horns of a devil figure."
Monstrum triceps Aegyptiacum capite Vulpis, Draconis et Aquilae.
"Three-headed monster of Egypt with the heads of a fox, a dragon, and an eagle."
Monstrum cum promuscide et captibus animalium in Belgio, vel ut alii Cracoviae natum. An: 1543.
"Monster with the heads of animals for joints in Belgium, and another one born in Krakow in the year 1543."
Monstrum Waldersdorfiense specie vitulo-monachi, natum 1523.
"Monster from Waldersdorf in the form of a bull-monk, born 1523."