Alchemical Hands in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Marginalia, Scholarship & Reception

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Monument with Female Figure, Lamp, and Trilingual Inscriptions

HIEROGLYPHIC b7v · p.30
Monument with Female Figure, Lamp, and Trilingual Inscriptions
From the 1499 Aldine first edition (University of Seville copy, via Internet Archive)

Tall monument with standing female figure holding a lamp. Below: three tiers of inscriptions in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin capitals.

In the Narrative

The most inscription-heavy page in the HP. Hebrew, Greek, and Latin texts encode warnings about a treasure. The female figure with lamp represents illumination — both literal and philosophical.

Source: LLM_ASSISTED · HIGH