From the few sentences I can read from the transcription it seems like it's instructions on how to behave like a proper gentleman? Which seems to imply that the images aren't entirely related. They are more akin to typical Medieval "doodle" marginal illuminations than to VM style illustrations.
Rene, would you mind if I rename this thread to "Sozomeno da Pistoia" and we start a separate thread for the humanist hand discussion?
I really can't see it well enough to make out more than a word or two, but the one with the guy with his feet in the "cup" or "tub" on the right is different in tone, very solicitous, the kind of tone one finds in a letter or dedication written to someone important.
PS, yes, moving the paleography aspect to another thread, separate from Sozomeno and the content of the page is probably a good idea.
I didn't ask for anyone to change the title of my post.
Can someone finally change the subject of my post back to what it was please!
(29-12-2017, 11:02 PM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Can someone finally change the subject of my post back to what it was please!
Interesting... Okay, I changed it back, doesn't matter. I had changed it to better distinguish between the discussion about this historical figure on the one hand and the "humanist hand" discussion on the other.
By the way, your input would be more than welcome in the other thread, about the arguments behind the humanist hand theory.
Well, as thread starter, I only had one thread in mind. It deals with the apparent contradictions that are evoked by the suggestion of a humanist hand behind the writing in the MS.
On the one hand, there is the point that humanist writing is an expression of a desire for form, which seems in contradiction with the lack of form in the illustrations.
On the other, there is the point raised by Juan Jose Marcos, and similarly by Helmut here, that humanist writing was used by a limited circle of people, educated in medicine, theology, law, and with an interest in classical philology. This also seems in contradiction with the Voynich MS. ( You are not allowed to view links.
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Sozomeno was an early humanist. Toresella specifically referred to humanists from the second half of the Century, but he did not explain why. In any case, while his marginal drawings are of a different execution than the Voynich MS, they are just as crude. Marco already pointed out in an earlier discussion that they do not seem too much related with the topic of the main text of the MS (in this case Marcus Porcius Cato).
ReneZ
On the other, there is the point raised by Juan Jose Marcos, and similarly by Helmut here, that humanist writing was used by a limited circle of people, educated in medicine, theology, law, and with an interest in classical philology. This also seems in contradiction with the Voynich MS. ( You are not allowed to view links.
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Hi ReneZ,
I read with great interest the work of M. Marcos.
I don't understand where is the contradiction.
Let's take the example of a doctor or an apothecary.
During the Middle Ages, both of them were familiars with plants, and there is a lot of plants in the Voynich manuscript.
In reality, I'm not 100% certain that these plants were used for drugs, medicines. Who knows ?
(29-12-2017, 09:10 AM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view....
Just a few weeks ago, I received a very interesting tip about this from Michelle Smith. I wanted to write about it earlier, but then other things happened.
One of the early Italian humanists was born as Zomino, but he changed his name to Sozomeno (1387 - 1458). He was born and died in Pistoia, and studied in Padova from 1407-1413. He entered the clergy already at an early age, and met other humanists in Florence (where he knew Poggio).
He did several of the 'usual' humanist things such as composing greek and latin grammars, and commenting on many classical authors. He built up his own library, which he donated to the city of Pistoia in 1423.
Here are some links (all in Italian):
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I find this fact, especially his knowledge of Greek, to be potentially very interesting. If his Greek grammar still exists I would like to know more about it.
Emma, this link provides a bit of background information and references to some of his Greek writings:
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