Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens (1618)
The Wind Bearing an Embryo
Emblem I of Atalanta Fugiens shows a bearded wind figure amid clouds, with a small infant visible within his belly. Its motto says that the wind carried it in its womb, while the epigram explicitly names an embryo enclosed in the belly of Boreas. The preceding music page sets words from that same epigram and supplies the three named musical parts. Image, verse and music therefore belong to one emblem sequence. The identity is kept specific to Maier’s 1618 book rather than treating the picture as a general depiction of every ancient wind deity.
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In the sources
A visible pregnancy of the wind
DocumentedThe motto and engraving place the infant within a personified wind.
The music repeats the embryo image
DocumentedThe opening sung text of Fuga I also names the embryo and Boreas.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows Michael Maier’s Latin and German Atalanta Fugiens in the scanned edition dated 1618. Statements are attributed to that historical emblem book. The source links identify the actual image, music or prose page; the interpretation is editorial.
Original passages
Source 1
Atalanta Fugiens
Portavit eum ventus in ventre suoOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Emblema I, printed p. 13, motto and engraving
Actual checksum-verified public Reader scan inspected. Short quotation transcribed from the page, with long s, line breaks and spacing normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0287-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0287-E001-P0014
- Original scan leaf
- 21
- Recorded leaf number
- 21
- Current Reader position
- 14
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Atalanta Fugiens
Embryo ventosa BoreaeOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Fuga I, printed p. 12, opening sung text
Actual checksum-verified public Reader scan inspected. Short quotation transcribed from the page, with long s, line breaks and spacing normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0287-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0287-E001-P0013
- Original scan leaf
- 20
- Recorded leaf number
- 20
- Current Reader position
- 13
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Illustrations
Continue exploring
The Three Voices in Atalanta Fugiens
Atalanta, Hippomenes and the delaying apple name the three musical roles printed beside Maier’s first fugue.
Shared illustrationAtalanta Fugiens
Maier’s alchemical emblem book brings engraved images, epigrams, prose and three-voice music into a single sequence.
Same subject and traditionSowing Gold in Atalanta Fugiens
Maier’s sixth emblem gives the chymist’s work the form of a sower casting gold over prepared earth.