The Voynich Ninja

Thanks, Linda. I prefer the Boulogne version over the Bern one since Boulogne clearly stays closer to the original. Compare for example how the legs interact with the dress. In the Bern MS this is rather awkward, while in the Boulogne version we immediately recognise the influence of the Ancient model. The front leg being naked can also be seen for example in the Nike of Samothrace.

Now the interesting question for me is, as always, where did the source of these three manuscripts come from? That might be an interesting bit of information, since we don't see the roll on the head in other Virgos.

I wish I knew! Been looking for anyone else with that roll on the head to no avail. But I thought it interesting about the skirt, that they put the leg behind it in Bern, making it transparent, matches that nymph with the skirt better, although she doesn't have a roll, while others do. Just finished writing what I think of that nymph under another thread, I can't really reconcile any of it to Virgo either, although that doesn't mean that's not the case. Maybe I spoke too soon, Virgo is often drawn holding things on either side of her, as a visual positional aid, one side being spica, the other mercury, and my interpretation of her is being in position between two water bodies, providing them each with fresh (virgin) water, holding a positional device, so who knows.

That's a very nice roll in the Boulogne MS.

Just wanted to add that Ellie V. did some research into the roll as well and came up with the following comparisons:



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I agree that some of Ellie's matches are excellent, but in this case I agree with Diane's comments on her post. These headdresses are exactly taken from a period when fashion was deliberately inspired by exotic and historical examples. All of these are found in extremely pompous context of nobility which, in my opinion, makes the match with the VM nymphs a bit problematic. But there may be some indirect connection, perhaps.


Next example: Aries

Now this is a complex one, so bear with me. 

I had analyzed You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. completely and everything made sense, only this thing was missing:


I knew that the constellation Aries had to be there, because of the constellations surrounding it and because the blackened circle denotes the equinox, which is marked by Aries. So I was certain that this thing represented Aries on the constellation level, but I had no idea how this weird triangular shape marked the Ram.

On the mythological narrative layer, this thing represents a series of waves crashing into a ship, ultimately breaking it. In Ovid's version, this action of the waves is compared to the repeated strikes of a battering ram, which in Latin is also called Aries. This provided a thematic and linguistic link, yet did not clarify the image much. How does this look like the constellation?

Well, those wavy lines at the bottom of the image represent the ecliptic, which starts at Aries. Normally it runs more horizontally, but here it has been places vertically. To really see how it matches the ecliptic, we have to look at it sideways:


The sets of dots on the lines represent constellations, just like can be seen on the image from the Mainz Globe (top).

What does Aries look like? Well, one of its main characteristics is that its head is turned towards its tail end. In authentic representations, it is always facing backwards. From images on Roman coins to 19th century London:


A second, optional component, is that Aries has a ring around its body:


Taking all of this information together, if we look at the image sideways, we should see the evocation of a sheep looking backwards, with an optional ring. Compare the Voynich image top left to some manuscript examples:



The lacy ring was the last thing I noticed, but also the most intriguing, because I didn't even know I was looking for it, and it points towards a rather specific way of depicting Aries, which in turn could yield valuable information.

You know, Koen, all these possible double and triple meanings and the many roundels/wheels in the VMS remind me of the diagrams of Ramon Llull.

Lull developed the art of encapsulating information for teaching and for recall at a later time. Llull mostly created these diagrams in the context of teaching religion and scripture, but the general idea of "mnemonic charts" was very popular at the time and spread in various ways through scholarly circles.

If one is not familiar with the content of Llull charts, they seem very cryptic, but that was not their intention. It was assumed that you learned the basic concepts illustrated in the chart and then, when you come back to it, even if it were heavily abbreviated and seemingly obscure, it would nevertheless provide a memory jog for the information it encoded.

(16-12-2016, 03:53 AM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.You know, Koen, all these possible double and triple meanings and the many roundels/wheels in the VMS remind me of the diagrams of Ramon Llull.

Lull developed the art of encapsulating information for teaching and for recall at a later time. Llull mostly created these diagrams in the context of teaching religion and scripture, but the general idea of "mnemonic charts" was very popular at the time and spread in various ways through scholarly circles.

If one is not familiar with the content of Llull charts, they seem very cryptic, but that was not their intention. It was assumed that you learned the basic concepts illustrated in the chart and then, when you come back to it, even if it were heavily abbreviated and seemingly obscure, it would nevertheless provide a memory jog for the information it encoded.

Yes! Something like this is precisely what I mean. Finally someone understands me
The images in Q13a (and probably many other folios) can only be analyzed and explained as a synthesis of consistent layers. I'm afraid that to many readers this seems trivial and a bit random, but quite some effort must have gone into it. It's like writing a poem that can be read as one thing in English, and another in French. It won't look like English and it won't look like French, but if you understand the techniques and rules used, you can filter out both.

I can think of two reasons to do this. One is to hide information. But I don't think the kind of information is included here that needed hiding. 
The second, like you say, is to help the memory. We often underestimate the extent to which people used to understand the memory so much better than we do now. They knew what the memory likes.

The memory does not like a list of random, seemingly unconnected stuff like a list of constellations. The memory does like stories. It also likes remarkable, somewhat humorous images. This is exactly what memory experts today recommend, for example when you need to remember a list of names. You come up with a funny mental picture for each name and place them into some kind of overarching structure like a mental building. This activates areas where our memory excels: if the visual and spatial components are activated, memory retention increases dramatically. Ancient and medieval people didn't have too many books, so they naturally relied on these advantages to remember amounts of material that would make every modern student jealous.

As you probably know, I favor a composition in an earlier period than the 15th century, but I share your philosophy of keeping options open. If it has to be a medieval composition rather than copy, then a person like Llull, given the right source material, is a good example.

Even if it's a copy, it's an original (in the sense of being creative) copy. Suppose it turns out that those breaks in the water stream are, in fact, space holders for the undrawn constellations along the ecliptic—that's a very original way to represent information.

(16-12-2016, 09:38 AM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Even if it's a copy, it's an original (in the sense of being creative) copy. Suppose it turns out that those breaks in the water stream are, in fact, space holders for the undrawn constellations along the ecliptic—that's a very original way to represent information.

Original - yes. But how can I say this, it's not easy to explain. I think for one to understand the composition, familiarity with certain customs are required, and those customs seem to be pre-medieval ones. Though in the field of astronomy this is very tricky to determine, since much more so than in comparable fields, we have plenty of evidence that authentic ancient sources were still present in the middle ages. At the moment it seems more likely to me that Q13 (not necessarily the other sections) is a descendant of an original early composition rather than a 15th century composition made from early exemplars. 

Dots on the ecliptic is an excellent example. If we compare this to the Mainz Globe - an authentic ancient source and one of my favorites - we see that there are in fact dots on the three lines of the ecliptic. Look:



Look at the Bull for example. There's a set of dots on his body and two on his horns. Now these stars marked in constellations were almost always somewhat wrong (or completely random in some cases) so I don't think a particular configuration of dots is supposed to represent a particular constellation. My point is that people were used to seeing groups of dots on the ecliptic. And to think of a constellation image as equivalent to a group of dots.

I tried moving some posts to this thread, hope I didn't mess anything up.

I did a quick check, and the "lacy ring" also shows up on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and f82v.  Actually the illustrator seems to be contrasting it with a smooth ring, which shows up in the same spot in otherwise similar "vessels" that the nymphs are standing in.  It's probably significant in some way but I doubt it has anything to do with conveying the idea that it's a depiction of Aries.