Editing Homunculus

{{short description|Representation of a small human being, common in alchemy and fiction}}
{{other uses|Homunculus (disambiguation)}}

A '''homunculus''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|h|ɒ|ˈ|m|ʌ|ŋ|k|j|ʊ|l|ə|s}} {{respell|hom|UNK|yuul|əs}}, {{IPAc-en|US|h|oʊ|ˈ|-}} {{respell|hohm|-}}, {{IPA|la|hɔˈmʊŋkʊlʊs|lang}}; "little person", {{plural form}}: '''homunculi''' {{IPAc-en|UK|h|ɒ|ˈ|m|ʌ|ŋ|k|j|ʊ|l|aɪ}} {{respell|hom|UNK|yuul|lye}}, {{IPAc-en|US|h|oʊ|ˈ|-}} {{respell|hohm|-}}, {{IPA|la|hɔˈmʊŋkʊliː|lang}}) is a small human being.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web |title=homunculus |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/homunculus-biology |website=Britannica |access-date=3 February 2024}}</ref> Popularized in 16th-century [[alchemy]] and 19th-century fiction, it has historically referred to the creation of a miniature, fully formed human. The concept has roots in [[preformationism]] as well as earlier folklore and alchemic traditions.

The term lends its name to the [[cortical homunculus]], an image of a person with the size of the body parts distorted to represent how much area of the cerebral cortex of the brain is devoted to it.

== History ==

=== Alchemy ===

[[file:Paracelsus219.jpg|upright|thumb|Paracelsus is credited with the first mention of the homunculus in ''De homunculis'' (c.&nbsp;1529–1532), and ''De natura rerum'' (1537).]]

During medieval and early modern times, it was thought that homunculus, an artificial humanlike being, could be created through alchemy.<ref name="Britannica"/> The homunculus first appears by name in [[alchemical]] writings attributed to [[Paracelsus]] (1493–1541). ''De natura rerum'' (1537) outlines his method for creating homunculi:

{{blockquote|That the sperm of a man be putrefied by itself in a sealed [[Cucurbitaceae|cucurbit]] for forty days with the highest degree of putrefaction in a horse's womb ["venter equinus", meaning "warm, fermenting horse dung"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Newman |first=William Royall |title=Promethean ambitions: alchemy and the quest to perfect nature |date=2005|page=215 |publisher=Univ. of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-57524-7 |edition=Paperback |location=Chicago, Ill.}}</ref>], or at least so long that it comes to life and moves itself, and stirs, which is easily observed. After this time, it will look somewhat like a man, but transparent, without a body. If, after this, it be fed wisely with the Arcanum of human blood, and be nourished for up to forty weeks, and be kept in the even heat of the horse's womb, a living human child grows therefrom, with all its members like another child, which is born of a woman, but much smaller.<ref name="Grafton1999">{{cite book|last = Grafton|first = Anthony|title = Natural Particulars: Nature and the Disciplines in Renaissance Europe|publisher = MIT Press|year = 1999}}</ref>{{rp|328–329}} }}

The fully grown homunculus was supposedly greatly skilled in "art" and can create giants, dwarves, and other marvels, as "Through art they are born, and therefore art is embodied and inborn in them, and they need learn it from no one."<ref>{{Citation |last=Newman |first=William R. |title=Alchemy, Domination, and Gender William R. Newman |date=1998-09-24 |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/34758/chapter/296954678 |work=A House Built on Sand |pages=216–226 |editor-last=Koertge |editor-first=Noretta |access-date=2023-07-28 |edition=1 |publisher=Oxford University PressNew York |language=en |doi=10.1093/0195117255.003.0014 |isbn=978-0-19-511725-7|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Comparisons have been made with several similar concepts in the writings of earlier alchemists. Although the actual word "homunculus" was never used, [[Carl Jung]] believed that the concept first appeared in the ''Visions of Zosimos'', written in the third century AD. In the visions, [[Zosimos of Panopolis|Zosimos]] encounters a priest who changes into "the opposite of himself, into a mutilated ''anthroparion''".<ref name="Jung1967">{{cite book|last = Jung|first = Carl|title = Alchemical Studies|year = 1967 }}</ref>{{rp| 60}} The Greek word "anthroparion" is similar to "homunculus" &ndash; a diminutive form of "person". Zosimos subsequently encounters other anthroparia in his dream but there is no mention of the creation of [[artificial life]]. In his commentary, Jung equates the homunculus with the [[Philosopher's Stone]], and the "inner person" in parallel with [[Christ]].<ref name="Jung1967" />{{rp|102}}

In [[Alchemy and chemistry in Islam|Islamic alchemy]], ''[[takwin]]'' ({{langx|ar|تكوين}}) was a goal of certain Muslim alchemists, and is frequently found in writings of the [[Jābir ibn Hayyān|Jabirian corpus]]. In the alchemical context, ''takwin'' refers to the artificial creation of life, spanning the full range of the [[chain of being]], from minerals to prophets, imitating the function of the [[demiurge]]. One set of instructions for creating animal life found within the Jabirian ''Kitab al-Tajmi'' involves finding a vessel shaped like the animal and combining the animal's bodily fluids within it, then placing the vessel at the center of a model of a [[celestial spheres|celestial sphere]] as heat is applied to it. Some of the alchemists believed that these methods originated somewhere in India or Southeast Asia.<ref>{{cite book|title=Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology|author=[[Joseph Needham]]|pages=486–487|year=1980|isbn=9780521085731|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>

The homunculus continued to appear in alchemical writings after Paracelsus' time. The ''[[Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz]]'' (1616) for example, concludes with the creation of a male and female form identified as ''Homunculi duo''. The allegorical text suggests to the reader that the ultimate goal of alchemy is not [[chrysopoeia]], but it is instead the artificial generation of humans. Here, the creation of homunculi symbolically represents spiritual regeneration and [[Christian soteriology]].<ref name="Grafton1999" />{{rp|321–338}}

In 1775, Count Johann Ferdinand von&nbsp;Kufstein, together with Abbé Geloni, an Italian cleric, is reputed to have created ten homunculi with the ability to foresee the future, which von&nbsp;Kufstein kept in glass containers at his [[Masonic lodge]] in [[Vienna]]. Dr.&nbsp;Emil Besetzny's Masonic handbook, ''Die Sphinx'', devoted an entire chapter to the ''wahrsagenden Geister'' (scrying ghosts). These are reputed to have been seen by several people, including local dignitaries.<ref>Besetzny, Emil. (1873). ''Die Sphinx'', pp.&nbsp;111–157. Vienna.</ref><ref name="Hartmann1896">{{cite book|last=Hartmann|first=Franz |author-link=Franz Hartmann|title=The Life of Philippus Theophrastus Bombast of Hohenheim: Known by the Name of Paracelsus, and the Substance of His Teachings|url=https://archive.org/details/lifephilippusth00hartgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifephilippusth00hartgoog/page/n326 306]|year=1896|publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner|location=London}}</ref>{{rp|306}}

===Folklore===
References to the homunculus do not appear prior to sixteenth-century alchemical writings{{Citation needed|date=February 2016}} but alchemists may have been influenced by earlier folk traditions. The [[mandrake|mandragora]], known in German as ''Alreona'', ''Alraun'' or ''Alraune'' is one example; [[Jean-Baptiste Pitois]]'s ''The History and Practice of Magic'' makes a direct comparison to the mandragora in one excerpt:

{{blockquote|Would you like to make a Mandragora, as powerful as the homunculus (little man in a bottle) so praised by [[Paracelsus]]? Then find a root of the plant called [[Bryonia alba|bryony]]. Take it out of the ground on a Monday (the day of the moon), a little time after the [[March equinox|vernal equinox]]. Cut off the ends of the root and bury it at night in some country churchyard in a dead man's grave. For 30 days, water it with cow's milk in which three bats have been drowned. When the 31st day arrives, take out the root in the middle of the night and dry it in an oven heated with branches of [[verbena]]; then wrap it up in a piece of a dead man's [[shroud|winding-sheet]] and carry it with you everywhere.<ref>pp. 402–403, by Paul Christian. 1963</ref>}}

The homunculus has also been compared to the [[golem]] of [[Jewish folklore]]. Though the specifics outlining the creation of the golem and homunculus are very different, the concepts both metaphorically relate man to the divine, in his construction of life in his own image.<ref>{{cite journal|last = Campbell|first = Mary Baine|title = Artificial Men: Alchemy, Transubstantiation, and the Homunculus|journal = Republics of Letters: A Journal for the Study of Knowledge, Politics, and the Arts|volume = 1|issue = 2|url = http://rofl.stanford.edu/node/61|access-date = 2013-01-17|archive-date = 2019-10-22|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191022092741/https://tools.stanford.edu/vhost-frozen/|url-status = dead}}</ref>

===Preformationism===
{{main|Preformationism}}
[[File:Preformation.GIF|thumb|upright|A tiny person inside a [[sperm cell]] as drawn by [[Nicolaas Hartsoeker]] in 1695]]
Preformationism is the formerly popular theory that animals developed from miniature versions of themselves. [[Sperm cell]]s were believed to contain complete preformed individuals called "[[animalcules]]". Development was therefore a matter of enlarging this into a fully formed being. The term homunculus was later used in the discussion of conception and birth.

[[Nicolas Hartsoeker]] postulated the existence of animalcules in the semen of humans and other animals. This was the beginning of spermists' theory, which held that the sperm was in fact a "little man" that was placed inside a woman for growth into a child, an effective explanation for many of the mysteries of conception. It was later pointed out that if the sperm was a homunculus, identical in all but size to an adult, then the homunculus may have sperm of its own. This led to a ''[[reductio ad absurdum]]'' with a chain of homunculi "[[Turtles all the way down|all the way down]]", an idea also known as the [[Homunculus argument|homunculus fallacy]]. This was not necessarily considered by spermists a fatal objection, however, as it neatly explained the [[Genesis creation narrative]]'s claim that it was "in [[Adam]]" that all had sinned: the whole of humanity was already contained in his loins during the [[original sin]]. The spermists' theory also failed to explain why children tend to resemble their mothers as well as their fathers, though some spermists suggested that the growing homunculus assimilated maternal characteristics from the womb.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |title=Epigenesis and Preformationism |date=October 11, 2005 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epigenesis/}}</ref>

==Terminological use in modern science==
{{Main|Cortical homunculus}}
The homunculus is commonly used today in scientific disciplines such as [[psychology]] as a teaching or memory tool to describe the distorted [[scale model]] of a human drawn or sculpted to reflect the relative space human body parts occupy on the [[somatosensory cortex]] (the [[sensory homunculus]]) and the [[motor cortex]] (the [[motor homunculus]]). Both the motor and sensory homunculi usually appear as small men superimposed over the top of precentral or postcentral [[gyrus|gyri]] for motor and sensory cortices, respectively. The homunculus is oriented with feet medial and shoulders lateral on top of both the [[precentral gyrus|precentral]] and the [[postcentral gyrus]] (for both motor and sensory). The man's head is depicted upside down in relation to the rest of the body such that the forehead is closest to the shoulders. The lips, hands, feet and sex organs have more sensory neurons than other parts of the body, so the homunculus has correspondingly large lips, hands, feet, and genitals. The motor homunculus is very similar to the sensory homunculus, but differs in several ways. Specifically, the motor homunculus has a portion for the tongue most lateral while the sensory homunculus has an area for genitalia most medial and an area for visceral organs most lateral.<ref>{{cite book|last = Saladin|first = Kenneth|title = Anatomy and Physiology: The Unity of Form and Function, 6th Edition|publisher = McGraw-Hill|year = 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://brainconnection.positscience.com/topics/?main=anat/motor-anat |title=BrainConnection.com - The Anatomy of Movement |publisher=Brainconnection.positscience.com |access-date=2012-01-29 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120726100811/http://brainconnection.positscience.com/topics/?main=anat/motor-anat |archive-date=2012-07-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Well known in the field of neurology, this is also commonly called "the little man inside the brain". This scientific model is known as the [[cortical homunculus]].

In medical science, the term homunculus is sometimes applied to certain [[fetus]]-like ovarian cystic [[teratoma]]e. These will sometimes contain hair, sebaceous material and in some cases [[cartilage|cartilaginous]] or [[bone|bony]] structures.<ref name="LeeKim2003">{{cite journal|last1=Lee|first1=Yong Ho|last2=Kim|first2=Sung Gun|last3=Choi|first3=Sung Hyuk|last4=Kim|first4=In Sun|last5=Kim|first5=Sun Haeng|title=Ovarian Mature Cystic Teratoma Containing Homunculus: A Case Report|journal=Journal of Korean Medical Science|volume=18|issue=6|year=2003|pages=905–907|issn=1011-8934|doi=10.3346/jkms.2003.18.6.905|pmc=3055135|pmid=14676454}}</ref>

In a recent article published in the peer-reviewed journal Leonardo "The Missing Female Homunculus”<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1162/leon_a_02012|title = The Missing Female Homunculus|year = 2020|last1 = Wright|first1 = Haven|last2 = Foerder|first2 = Preston|journal = Leonardo| volume=54 | issue=6 |pages = 1–8|s2cid = 227275778|doi-access = free}}</ref> by Haven Wright and Preston Foerder revisits the history of the Homunculus, sheds light on current research in neuroscience on the female brain, and reveals what they believe to be the first sculpture of the female Homunculus, done by the artist and first author Haven Wright, based on the current research available.

==In popular culture==
{{Further|Alchemy in art and entertainment}}

===Early literature===
[[File:Faust image 19thcentury.jpg|thumb|upright|19th-century engraving of Wagner and Homunculus from Goethe's ''Faust II'']]
Homunculi can be found in centuries worth of literature. These fictions are primarily centred around imaginative speculations on the quest for artificial life associated with [[Paracelsianism|Paracelsian]] alchemy. One of the very earliest literary references occurs in [[Thomas Browne]]'s ''[[Religio Medici]]'' (1643), in which the author states:
{{blockquote|I am not of Paracelsus minde that boldly delivers a receipt to make a man without conjunction,&nbsp;...<ref>Thomas Browne. ''Religio Medici''. 1643. Part&nbsp;1: 35</ref>}}
The fable of the alchemically-created homunculus may have been central in [[Mary Shelley]]'s novel ''[[Frankenstein]]'' (1818). Professor [[Radu Florescu]] suggests that [[Johann Konrad Dippel]], an alchemist born in [[Frankenstein Castle]], might have been the inspiration for Victor Frankenstein. German playwright [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]'s ''[[Faust, Part Two]]'' (1832) famously features an alchemically-created homunculus.<ref>See ''Poet lore; a quarterly of world literature'' 1889 p. 269ff [https://archive.org/stream/poetlorequarterl13bost#page/268/mode/2up  ''A Faust Problem: What was the Homunculus?''] and Faust by Goethe [https://archive.org/stream/fausttragedytran00goetuoft#page/352/mode/2up/search/Homunculus Faust p. 350ff]</ref> Here, the character of Homunculus embodies the quest of a pure spirit to be born into a mortal form, contrasting Faust's desire to shed his mortal body to become pure spirit. The alchemical idea that the soul is not imprisoned in the body, but instead may find its brightest state as it passes through the material plane, is central to the character.<ref>{{cite journal|last = Latimer|first = Dan|title = Homunculus as Symbol: Semantic and Dramatic Functions of the Figure in Goethe's Faust|publisher = The Johns Hopkins University Press|journal = MLN|volume = 89|issue = 5|year = 1974|pages=814|doi=10.2307/2907086|jstor = 2907086}}</ref>
[[William Makepeace Thackeray]] wrote under the pen name of Homunculus.<ref>[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011984771 John Bull and his wonderful lamp: a new reading of an old tale] by Homunculus.</ref>

===Contemporary literature===
The homunculus legend, ''Frankenstein'' and ''Faust'' have continued to influence works in the twentieth and twenty-first century.  The theme has been used not only in [[fantasy literature]], but also to illuminate social topics. For instance, the British children's writers [[Mary Norton (author)|Mary Norton]] and [[Rumer Godden]] used homunculus motifs in their work, expressing various post-war anxieties about refugees, persecution of minorities in war, and the adaptation of these minorities to a "big" world.<ref>{{cite journal|hdl=1959.14/76602  |title=Post-war place and displacement in Rumer Godden's "The Doll's house" and Mary Norton's "The Borrowers"|last=Dubosarsky |first=Ursula|journal=CREArTA |volume=6 |issue=Special Issue |pages=103–107|year=2006 }}</ref> [[W. Somerset Maugham]]'s 1908 novel [[The Magician (Maugham novel)|''The Magician'']] utilises the concept of the homunculus as an important plot element. [[David H. Keller]]'s short story "A Twentieth-Century Homunculus" (1930) describes the creation of homunculi on an industrial scale by a pair of [[misogynists]]. Likewise, [[Sven Delblanc]]'s ''The Homunculus: A Magic Tale'' (1965) addresses alleged [[misogyny]] and the Cold War industrial-military complexes of the Soviet Union and [[NATO]]. In German children's author [[Cornelia Funke]]'s book, ''[[Dragon Rider (novel)|Dragon Rider]]'', the protagonists meet and are aided by a homunculus created by an alchemist. The homunculus, and [[alchemy]] broadly, is seen as more of a [[Magic in fiction|magical]] phenomenon in the story, however, rather than necessarily having a symbolic meaning.

===Other media===
Homunculi appear in fantasy based television, film, and games in a manner consistent with literature. Examples can be found in numerous media, such as the podcast ''[[Hello from the Magic Tavern|Hello From The Magic Tavern]],'' the films ''[[Homunculus (film)|Homunculus]]'' (1916), ''[[Bride of Frankenstein]]'' (1935), ''[[The Golden Voyage of Sinbad]]'' (1973), ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]'' (1977), the made-for-television movie ''[[Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973 film)|Don't Be Afraid of the Dark]]'' (1973) and [[Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010 film)|its theatrical remake]] (2011), ''[[Being John Malkovich]]'' (1999), Guillermo del Toro's ''[[The Devil's Backbone]]'' (2001), Shane Acker's ''[[9 (2009 animated film)|9]]'' (2009), Philipp Humm's ''[[The Last Faust]]'' (2019), Yorgos Lanthimos' ''[[Poor Things (film)|Poor Things]]'' (2023), television shows (such as ''Bloodfeast'', ''[[American Dad]]'', ''[[Rick and Morty]]'' (season 2, episode 1) (2015), ''[[Smiling Friends]]'' (season 1, episode 5) (season 2, episode 5), and ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' ((season 3, episode 3), played by [[Johnny Galecki]]), fantasy role-playing games (such as ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''), [[video game]]s (such as ''[[Ragnarok Online]]'', ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'', '' [[Shadow of Memories]]'', ''[[The Legend of Heroes]]'' series, ''[[Cabals: Magic & Battle Cards]]'', ''[[Genshin Impact]]'', ''[[Bayonetta 3]]'', ''[[Master Detective Archives: Rain Code]]''), and the [[Metroidvania]] [[Dead Cells]], books (such as ''[[The Secret Series]]'' and ''[[Sword of Destiny]]'' or ''[[Seventy-Two Letters]]'' by Ted Chiang), graphic novels (such as ''[[Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense]]'') and manga (such as ''[[Cyber Team in Akihabara|Akihabara Dennō Gumi]]'', ''[[Homunculus (manga)|Homunculus]]'', ''[[Stone Ocean]]'', ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', ''[[Sorcerous Stabber Orphen]]'',<ref name="Mizuno2019">{{cite book|last=Mizuno|first=Ryou|title=Sorcerous Stabber Orphen Anthology. Commentary|year=2019| language=ja |publisher=TO Books|isbn= 9784864728799|pages=237}}</ref> ''[[Fate/Zero]]'', and ''[[Gosick]]'').

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Cartesian theater]]
* [[Doppelgänger]]
* [[Fastachee]]
* [[Galatea (mythology)|Galatea]], a mythical living sculpture made by [[Pygmalion (mythology)|Pygmalion]] 
* [[Golem]]
* [[Homunculus argument]]
* [[Karzełek]]
* [[Mind–body problem|Mind–body dichotomy]]
* [[Nuno sa punso|Nuno]]
* [[Simulacrum]]
* ''[[Snugglepot and Cuddlepie]]''
* [[Soul]]
* [[Takwin]]
* [[Telesphorus (mythology)]]
* [[Tulpa]]
* [[Human cloning]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Montiel | first1 = L | year = 2013 | title = Proles sine matre creata: The Promethean Urge in the History of the Human Body in the West | journal = Asclepio | volume = 65 | issue = 1| pages = 1–11 | doi = 10.3989/asclepio.2013.01 | doi-access = free }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Weiss | first1 = JR | last2 = Burgess | first2 = JB | last3 = Kaplan | first3 = KJ | year = 2006 | title = Fetiform teratoma (homunculus) | journal = Arch Pathol Lab Med | volume = 130 | issue = 10| pages = 1552–1556 | doi = 10.5858/2006-130-1552-FTH | pmid = 17090201 }}
* Watson JD, Berry A. ''DNA: The Secret of Life''. New York, New York: Random House; 2003.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Abbott | first1 = TM | last2 = Hermann | first2 = WJ | last3 = Scully | first3 = RE | year = 1984 | title = Ovarian fetiform teratoma (homunculus) in a 9-year-old girl | journal = Int J Gynecol Pathol | volume = 2 | issue = 4 | pages = 392–402 | doi=10.1097/00004347-198404000-00007 | pmid = 6724790}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Kuno | first1 = N | last2 = Kadomatsu | first2 = K | last3 = Nakamura | first3 = M | last4 = Miwa-Fukuchi | first4 = T | last5 = Hirabayashi | first5 = N | last6 = Ishizuka | first6 = T | year = 2004 | title = Mature ovarian cystic teratoma with a highly differentiated homunculus: a case report | journal = Birth Defects Research Part A: Clinical and Molecular Teratology | volume = 70 | issue = 1 | pages = 40–46 | doi=10.1002/bdra.10133 | pmid = 14745894}}
* {{cite book|last=Florescu|first=Radu|author-link=Radu Florescu|title=In Search of Frankenstein|year=1975|publisher=New York Graphic Society|location=Boston|isbn=0-8212-0614-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/insearchoffranke00flor}}
* {{cite book|last=Gregory|first=Richard L.|author-link=Richard Gregory|title=Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing|year=1990|edition=4th|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton|isbn=0-691-02456-1}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Gregory|editor-first=Richard L. |title=The Oxford Companion to the Mind|year=1987|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0-19-866124-X|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00greg}}
* {{cite book|last=Maconius|first=S.|title=The Lore of the Homunculus|year=1980|publisher=Red Lion Publications}}
* {{cite book|last=Ryle|first=Gilbert|author-link=Gilbert Ryle|title=The Concept of Mind|year=1984|orig-year=1949|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=0-226-73295-9}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Waite|editor-first=Arthur Edward |editor-link=Arthur Edward Waite|title=The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Aureolus Philippus Theophrastus Bombast, of Hohenheim, Called Paracelsus the Great|year=1976|orig-year=1894|edition=2 vols.|publisher=Shambhala|location=Berkeley|isbn=0-87773-082-2}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|Homunculus}}
*[https://www.themystica.com/homunculus/ Homunculus] article from The Mystica.

{{Alchemy}}

[[Category:Alchemical concepts]]
[[Category:Paracelsus]]
[[Category:Literary motifs]]
[[Category:Narrative techniques]]
[[Category:Legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Monsters]]
[[Category:Mythic humanoids]]
[[category:Witchcraft]]