Prodromus Coptus sive Aegyptiacus (The Coptic or Egyptian Forerunner) was a 1636 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher.[1] It was published in Rome by the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and dedicated to the Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Francesco Barberini.[2][3] The book was Kircher's first venture into the field of Egyptology, and it also contained the first ever published grammar of the Coptic language.[4]: 4