The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili ("The Strife of Love in a Dream") is a Renaissance allegorical romance, originally published in Venice in 1499 by the printer Aldo Manuzio. It's a strange hybrid: part erotic dream-narrative, part architectural treatise, part alchemical and Neoplatonic philosophy embedded in poetry and prose.
The narrative follows Poliphilus through a dreamland where he pursues his beloved Polia, encountering temples, inscriptions, strange creatures, and elaborate symbolic architecture. The whole thing unfolds as an initiation—a descent into and navigation through a landscape of esoteric symbols.
The text is saturated with Hermetic, Neoplatonic, and alchemical symbolism. It was influential on:
- Renaissance magic and theurgy (Ficino, Pico's circles)
- Alchemical illustration and emblem theory
- Masonic and Rosicrucian symbolic systems
- The development of the Tarot
- Later Western occultism (Éliphas Lévi, Golden Dawn)
It's essentially a map of inner transformation dressed as an erotic quest. The architecture describes the structure of consciousness and ascent.
Poliphilus must journey through increasingly sophisticated realms of symbol and architecture to reach Polia (wisdom/the beloved/the divine feminine). But the journey itself is the transformation. By the end, he understands that the quest and the destination are one—the seeking is the finding.
The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, set in 1467, consists of a series of precious and elaborate scenes involving the title character, Poliphilo ("friend of many things" from the Greek words poly- meaning "many" and philos meaning "friend"). In these scenes, Poliphilo wanders a bucolic-classical dreamland in search of his love, Polia ("many things"). The author's style is elaborately descriptive and unsparing in its use of superlatives. The text makes frequent references to classical geography and mythology, mostly by way of comparison.
The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is illustrated with 168 exquisite woodcuts showing the scenery, architectural settings, and some of the characters Poliphilo encounters in his dreams. They depict scenes from Poliphilo's adventures and the architectural features over which the author rhapsodizes, in a simultaneously stark and ornate line art style.
The psychologist Carl Jung admired the book, believing the dream images presaged his theory of archetypes.
Plot Summary
The book begins with Poliphilo, who is spending a restless dream-filled night because his beloved, Polia, has shunned him. Poliphilo is transported into a wild forest, where he becomes lost, encounters dragons, wolves and maidens and a large variety of architectural forms. He escapes, and falls asleep once more.
He then awakens in a second dream, a dream within the first. He is taken by nymphs to meet their queen, and there he is asked to declare his love for Polia, which he does. He is then directed by two nymphs to three gates. He chooses the third, and there he discovers his beloved. They are taken by some more nymphs to a temple to be engaged. Along the way they come across five triumphal processions celebrating their union. They are then taken to the island of Cythera by barge, on which Cupid is the boatswain. On Cythera, they see another triumphal procession celebrating their union. The narrative is interrupted, and assumed by a second voice, as Polia describes Poliphilo's erotomania from her own point of view.
Poliphilo then resumes his narrative (from one-fifth of the way through the book). Polia rejects Poliphilo, but Cupid appears to her in a vision and compels her to return and kiss Poliphilo, who has fallen into a deathlike swoon at her feet. Her kiss revives him. Venus blesses their love, and Poliphilo and Polia are united at last. As Poliphilo is about to take Polia into his arms, Polia vanishes into thin air and Poliphilo wakes up.