The Voynich Ninja

(16-12-2016, 01:04 PM)Davidsch Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Quote:Here's a picture of one being You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. 

@JKP. 
So, my arguments do not impress.  You can convince me, by finding a clear picture of two being used on the chain(s) as your pictures.

David, maybe I didn't express myself well enough (I was teasing about the chain).

I don't think the strigils were used in pairs. I think they were often made or stored in pairs (as shown by the examples) and that they may have been held as a pair by a bath girl. The bath girls were servants and slaves who carried the buckets, added the herbs, applied the oils, and brought the various bathing implements (including strigils) to the bathers. In ancient depictions, the baths are often shown with male slaves as the attendants, but in the middle ages, most of the bathing images show young women attending the bathers.

The nymph in the drawing with what looks like a diaphomous skirt (like bathing girls wore) or perhaps a wet skirt, isn't cleaning herself or someone else, she's simply holding the item. As shown in the bath mosaic with the two pairs of strigils (linked above), when there was artistic or symbolic intent, they were sometimes shown in pairs.


I have no idea what the VMS intent was, and I still think they resemble tongs or calipers more than anything else (which fits well with measurement or childbirth themes), but a semi-naked nymph near water holding a pair of tong-like shapes could be a bath girl holding a pair of strigils.

Since we're also kind of discussing the cross nymph here - when looking for something else I saw this image:



It's a procession for Artemis, and the participants hold cruciform staffs. That's not so important, but look at the one all the way on the right. It's hard to see in this image, but she is holding a smaller version of this cross. In a very familiar way.

High chance of false positive, but I still thought I'd share.

(20-12-2016, 09:57 PM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Since we're also kind of discussing the cross nymph here - when looking for something else I saw this image:



It's a procession for Artemis, and the participants hold cruciform staffs. That's not so important, but look at the one all the way on the right. It's hard to see in this image, but she is holding a smaller version of this cross. In a very familiar way.

High chance of false positive, but I still thought I'd share.

A familiar posture indeed.

Did you notice that the angular lattice-work on the basket is similar to one of the baskets in the zodiac-symbols section?

Prudentia:

This postdates the VMS and I'm not quite sure what he's doing, but he's an astrologer/astronomer using compasses with something that resembles a volvelle (Vogthere, 1546):

(15-07-2017, 12:51 PM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.This postdates the VMS and I'm not quite sure what he's doing, but he's an astrologer/astronomer using compasses with something that resembles a volvelle (Vogthere, 1546):

It is odd that Wheels 1 and 2 seem to align, but Wheels 3 and 4 do not.

There were many forms of astronomical volvelles, but I'm not sure how the compass factors into them. Most of them have a built-in pointer for setting positions.

He's using an calendar like this one

This one lets you calculate the date of Easter for any year.
The pair of compass just lets him compare start and end date.

1496 Heidelberg Kriegsbuch (book of war implements):

[attachment=2334]

There are additional pincer-like implements on other folios:

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What the devil is that for? And how are the pincers supposed to close with just one bit of rope?  
Also interesting to note that, if this is indeed for lifting weights, there isn't a pulley to help take the strain.