Lodovico Lazzarelli

The Vita is characterized by an hagiographic tone and pays particular attention to the author's literary endeavors while passing under silence important aspects of his career, e.g. his interest for magic arts.

The 'Crater' here is the Platonic krater, envisioned by both Plato and the Neoplatonists as the cosmic crucible in which all souls were created, and that was also represented in the Christian narrative of the Holy Grail.

Since the aim of the initiation was to reveal "the kingdom of Israel (which poets call the Golden Age), for which Jesus Christ taught his disciples to pray",[8] there is an attempt here to syncretise Orphic-Hermetic magic and ritual with the Christian message.

Thus, his work was part of a wider attempt to stress the common roots and beliefs of all religions, including Islam and Judaism, that characterised the Renaissance.

Thus, Walker firmly associates Lazzarelli with the tradition of Neoplatonic and Orphic magic, theurgy and ritual that emerged during the 15th century in Renaissance Italy, and that was widely debated amongst intellectuals and theologists of the time.