Signum sagacis Aegypti

Abstract There are various suggestions for the hieroglyphic puzzle in Synesios' De providentia offering different, sometimes strongly divergent solutions. In his article “Osiris in Konstantinopel oder: Synesios' Ägyptische Erzählungen ”, the historian René Pfeilschifter recently analysed this passage in more detail, asking the question: “Does Synesios mean a hieroglyph that has actually been observed when he mentions the sceptres of Egypt, the claws of the animals and the heads of the sacred birds? All this is frequently depicted singularly in hieroglyphs, but it has not yet been possible to determine a hieroglyph or at least an image that comes close to Synesios' combination” adding the plea for a “commentary with Egyptological participation”. The interpretation discussed in this paper links Synesios' knowledge of hieroglyphs based on ancient Egyptian sources with hieroglyphics from Antiquity to Early Modern Times.