Alchemical Hands in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Why It Matters for the Hypnerotomachia

Cupid appears in the HP as child archer, triumphal participant, and philosophical force. The HP's Cupid functions simultaneously as erotic desire and as the Neoplatonic eros that moves the soul toward beauty and truth.

Why It Matters in Scholarship

The alchemical annotators read Cupid's arrows as symbols of chemical transformation. Russell documents how the same Cupid passages received radically different interpretations from humanist, aesthetic, and alchemical readers.

Key Passages / Evidence

• ... to the Eros symbol provide context and specific content to this figure's meaning, and consequently to the entire story's psychological meaning. Such associa- tions seem more influential on... [Gollnick (Apuleius dreamworld)]
• <!-- Page 116 --> The Eros and Psyche Myth: Psychological Interpretations 101 Range of Jungian Interpretations All of the Jungian interpretations we have discussed view the Eros and Psyche story... [Gollnick (Apuleius dreamworld)]
• <!-- Page 98 --> The Eros and Psyche Myth: Psychological Interpretations 83 understanding of the Eros symbol propels their overall interpretation of the story. Their approach resembles the... [Gollnick (Apuleius dreamworld)]

Source Documents

Gollnick (Apuleius dreamworld); Teaching_Eros_The_Rhetoric_of_Love_in_th; Word_Image_2015_apr_03_vol_31_iss_2_Nygren_Christopher_J_The_Hypnerotomachia_Pol