Event: Peering into the Realm of the Dead: Athanasius Kircher and the Mundus Subterraneus
Date: 8 May 2024
Time: 18:30
Venue: Reading Hall, National Library of Malta, Valletta
Speaker: Dr Carmel Serracino
This is the seventh lecture in the National Library of Malta Public Lectures Series 2023-2024, ‘Knowledge in the Making: Towards an Intellectual History of Early Modern Malta’. The series is organised in collaboration with the UM Department of Philosophy.
Inspired by the author's descent into the crater in Mount Vesuvius, Mundus Subterraneus (published in 1665) is a fascinating and spectacular book about the entrails of our planet - including an eye-witness account of troglodytic life in Malta. Written in Latin and full of arcane learning, this richly-illustrated volume is a unique testimonial of the mind, the knowledge, and the vision of "the last renaissance man", the Jesuit and scholar Athanasius Kircher. This lecture will probe some of the wonders found in Kircher's exquisite book and also examine the style of his Latin.
Dr Carmel Serracino is a senior lecturer in Classics at the Department of Classics and Archaeology of the University of Malta. His recent publications include Ardet Amans: Essays in honour of Horatio Vella (2022), Fabulae Melitae Mirabiles (2022), and, together with Andrew Debono Cauchi, Kellimna, Ja Muża!.
The National Library Public Lecture Series 2023-2024 is a collaboration between the National Library and the UM Department of Philosophy. The series is coordinated by Maroma Camilleri, Prof. Jean-Paul De Lucca and Mevrick Spiteri.
Free entrance. No booking required.
For more information, please send an email.
