worst translation ever

athanasius kircher was the 17th century polymath who [among many other things] invented the megaphone, worked on deciphering the [still undeciphered] voynich manuscript, and published a tract on magnetism which also explored other forms of attraction such as gravity and love. he has been credited as the founder of egyptology, despite the “translation” of the above cartouche that he published in 1666. his interpretation was:

Osiris’s protection against the violence of Typhon must be invoked in accordance with appropriate rituals and ceremonies, through sacrifices and through appeal to the protective spirits of the threefold world, in order to assure the happiness and wealth which the Nile usually bestows upon the enemies of Typhon’s violence.

150 years later, jean-françois champollion finally cracked the code of heiroglyphics for reals. we now know that kircher’s passage actually read:

Psammetichus

which was the name of an egyptian pharaoh.

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see also this.