The Voynich Ninja

So this is a very "way out" theory that just occurred to me whilst looking at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. which in Koen's arma christi theory may represent the 30 pieces of silver.

Yes, there are only 29 coins in this depiction. Koen suggests that maths may not be part of the illustrators talent set. We put this to one side for a moment.

The imagery is unusual, as we have the very strong red roots underneath the plant, drawn around a hole in the parchment, which appear to be sprouting a wheat-like plant:



And above we have some tessellated plant heads



Now, in Christian tradition, the 30 pieces of silver were used to buy Potter's field or You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., "the field of blood" a piece of land later used by the synogogue as a cemetery for non-Jews. Judas of Iscariot is reputed to have died there:

Quote:According to the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.) Judas "acquired a field with the reward of his unjust deed, and falling headfirst he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. This became known to all who lived in Jerusalem, so that in their own language they called that field Hakeldama, that is, 'Field of Blood.'"

Luke repeats this story: he [Judas] fell dead head long and his heart burst and his intestines spilt out.

Now, it is not beyond the realms of possibility to imagine that we are looking at the fields of blood, around a hole in the parchment which represents the heart of Judas, which had exploded in the horror of what he had done to Jesus.

We now come to the thistle and wheat. Thistles and other common weeds amongst wheat are a typical Christian motif showing the effects of Satan and evil; the thistle makes the wheat unproductive, and is allowed to grow because of the farmer's neglect for his own care.

'Let thistles grow up to me instead of wheat, and thorns instead of barley' [Job 31:40].

So, if we assume these to be coins, then the roots, barley and thistles all join together in a Christian allegory: the return of the coins, the purchase of the fields of blood using this money and the effects of Satan upon the heart of Judas.

I was hoping that it would be more than simple "talismanic infusion".
So in this case, would you think the thistles are connected to the "evil" coins on purpose, and the barley sprouts above the "wound", i.e. redemption?

Part 2: The annoying matter of the 29 coins.

As for the 29 instead of 30, don't know. There was a common medieval riddle in which the answer was that a king was worth only 29 pieces of silver, as no King could be worth more than Jesus. (See You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.and others). I doubt this has anything to do with the matter in hand.

Other than that, it is very firmly embedded in tradition that there were 30 coins, and all medieval depictions show 30 where-ever possible. What's the point in displaying a different number?

Well, maybe it's an attempt at obfuscation; show 29 instead of 30 so it's not immediately obvious. Maybe it's an accident, the scribe didn't count them properly and realised afterwards he couldn't amend the drawing. And maybe it's intentional.

The "coins" are depicted in two plants, each sprouting branches in assortments of threes. The right hand plant has three branches with three coins dangling, and a single larger coin pointing to the right (so that's four groups of three).

The left hand branch has three individual coins to the right; and three branches to the left. Each of the individual branches again has a single larger coin extruding from the end of the branch. The top branch has three coins, the bottom two four each.

Each plant has four red coins, making a total of 8 red coins and 21 green coins.



Let us assume that this isn't a mistake, because that would take all the fun out of it. Let's assume there is a code.

If we look at the books of the Bible that interest us (dealing with Jesus), we see that there aren't many with 21 chapters. Out of all of them, the only one of interest is Luke. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.starts with The Parable of the Sower, which links in with the suggested "reap as ye shall sow" iconography in my previous post.
And You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.starts with the Widow's Offering, before going onto the Destruction of the Temple, warning in an apocalyptic tone of what will happen after the death of Jesus.

So, let us imagine that these two chapters are of interest to the scribe and the illustrator decided to incorporate a visual mnemonic into the illustration. He had to sacrifice the 30 coins imagery, but it was worth it in order to get in the link to Chapters 8 and Chapters 21, which are indicated by the colour of the coins.

One final argument in favour: the Gospel of Luke is the third book of the four canonical gospels dealing with the life of Christ.

Of course, it's perfectly possible that the chapters in question are actually marked by the red coins. But I can't find a canonical gospel with 29 chapters in it....

As an aside, the 30 coins of Judas were used in medieval times to remind the peasants of the dangers of accumulating wealth for wealth's sake. Many English coins of the period were marked with a cross; not for Christian purposes, but to remind the bearer of the teachings of Christ as regards the hoarding of money and general anti-social use of cash.

As far as I can see the thirty pieces of silver were (always?) represrnted by a bag

I've seen two images that didn't have 30 pieces (one is posted on my recent blog—it has 28). The other one has a bag and a smaller number.

If there is enough surrounding imagery that tells the story, there isn't a strict need for it to be 30. It usually is, but not always.

Helmut, there are three basic types to represent the coins;

- in a bag, this is not necessarily the most common type
- being poured from a hand as an amorphous mass
- "counted": laid out in one or more rows or a square. As JKP says, there are instances even of the "counted" version where the number is not exactly 30.

Also just held in a hand, and here as well the number doesn't seem to matter:

I'm so used to seeing it referred to as silver pieces or shekels in modern literature... it's interesting that in VView's example, it's denarii. I'll have to pay more attention to the wording when I look at the Arma Christi images.

And what do we make of this (right side, middle). Is number thirty hiding?

[attachment=3144]

I think it's a paint transfer but am not sure. 
Mind you, they are funny looking coins. They are far too modern. Coins of the era didn't have reeded edges like that, they were much flatter with no profile edge.