The Voynich Ninja

This post will describe the diagram at the bottom of f82v as depicting the Alboran Sea.




The most baffling part of this diagram is the imagery on the far right, so i will start there. I believe it stands for the Balearic sea. It shows that waters from it go toward the Alboran sea, (the pond the green water lines flow to), which is correct, that is how the current flows in that vicinity. The knobby bit to the far right is directly across from a pokey point on the shore. This is one of the Balearic islands, across from Valencia the kingdom, which takes up the pointy point. Note the blue dot, that is the location of Valencia the municipality. So basically it is only showing the Ibiza channel to represent the whole Balearic sea. This map shows exactly the area this nebuly line indicates, and i also believe that the use of blue here is indicative of being able to see the other shore, (f80r poke in the eye establishes this, and these pages are connected, which i will get into later.) Both the cloudband and the use of blue is of alternate meaning than usual, as it is not a river or cloud vapour here. 



Even today, the demarcations between seas are not always agreed upon. However, like both current examples, in the vms the Balearic seems not to extend south of the islands, so it actually affects the greater Mediterranean sea, and not the Alboran directly. But the Mediterranean was left out of the vms representation, and not coloured, i think to obscure and make it look more like a pond with a weird octopus doing something to it. Unless you know what you are looking at, then all the mnemonics start to make sense. 

They did not include the Gibraltar strait as part of the Alboran Sea, which also makes it look more like a pond. I tend to agree though that the sea ends at Gibralar/Ceuta. The strait is simply the remains of where the Atlantic broke through into the Alboran/Mediterranean, the strait was not a part of the sea before that happened.

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Can you see it?[/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]The nymphs are Malaga, Grenada, and Almeria, which stand for the regions or provinces to which their names apply.[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]The double rainbows are river valleys. [/font]The tube is an estuary as it is coloured green, which means saltwater or otherwise mineralized water, but there is blue freshwater moving through it. Silt is shown to indicate these rivers are not as navigable as they were during the height of use in Roman and Phoenician times.

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Why does Granada not have a barrel to stand in? Because those are sheltered ports, and Granada is usually thought of as being located within the river systems, not at the deltas. Later portolans show it like this[/font]


In the Piri Reis (third) example there are 5 rivers on the shore, Malaga (Guadiara river) on the left, 2 rivers for Granada, the Almeria (Andarax) River and the Almanzora River/estuary on the right, the same as being shown in the vms, albeit quite differently. You could see from the other 2 examples where the rainbow shapes come from, the Guardiana river valley and others. And you can see why the rivers would drain on both sides, because they don't actually have the same source, just close by. The Catalan atlas of the 14th century also shows the same rivers but it is more triangular in shape, many other examples exist for centuries back where these two valleys are featured.

Malaga and Granada are touching because Malaga the municipality was at that point part of the kingdom of Granada until 1487. But Malaga is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and as such has its own distinct history, albeit some of its history is lost, indicated by the nymph not touching the arm to the back.

When nymphs hold their arms behind them and away from their back, i believe it means they suffered a defeat or a catastrophe that affected the population. The higher they hold them, the more recent. It is interesting to note that in 1436 there was a defeat of Muslims by Murcians in the Almanzorga area. Or maybe it refers to flooding. When the river segment is held aloft, i believe it means the river rises. The Almanzora is known to swell and flood periodically today, it is reasonable to think it would have also done so in the past. Aha, the Romans called it the Surbo, meaning superb, after its great floods, so there you go. I love it that i knew it from the vms before i looked it up, happens all the time.

You can almost see the analogous  point in the African shoreline but as it is not completely painted, that may be a happy accident. Then again, i do not believe it is necessarily an accident when the paint doesn't match the lines. Lots of obfuscation going on.

In terms of the ordering of the folios, this one is a little problematic due to the fact that it seems to be a revisiting of the area that was skipped between You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (the beginning) and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (the second page page), plus it provides some more detail regarding f80r. It makes sense to me as a final obfuscation once the rest is in order. It still counts as contiguous, as we are actually by this page repeating the journey to Azov for the second trip around the world. A repeat that doesn't repeat anything exactly but says it in new ways to fill in information not given the first time around.

The You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. connection is that the Balearic Sea component is a repeat of the beginning part of the shoreline on f80r. 



The right hand nymph is Valencia. See the funny triangle thingie at her ankles? It is the same as the funny triangle point across from the Balearic Islands, except this time it is sort of 3d, coming at you. She looks somewhat like the kingdom she represents. The arm behind her but touching her back like that means to me that her history is intact, there probably exist rutters for sailing in the vicinity as well. Also the direction they have her facing makes that elbow echo the point, the negative space in the crook of her arm is triangular also. The waving hand also echos the shape of the kingdom and also signifies readiness to do business with travellers. It is held in front of her which means there is recent prosperity and indeed this turns out to be the case, after dealing with the plague in the 14th century, the 15th was prosperous with regard to Genoese merchants restarting the local silk trade. There it is again, the vms told me, then i looked it up and found out the details.

Cartagena and Murcia are the other two nymphs. The next nymph, not shown here, is Barcelona. Notice Murcia shows the least forward leg as she is farthest inland. Valencia has the triangle at her feet rather than to her left, as she stands for the kingdom of Valencia, not the municipality, and the kingdom includes the point.  All in all, taken together, there are enough mnemonics to properly draw the eastern Spanish shore in addition to the Andelusian coast that can more easily be discerned.

But not only geography is included, history of the places is also signified by the nymphs.

Murcia's spindle is empty, pointing behind her, the direction of her journey. Her spindle is a match to the one on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. combined with the nymph in the top right corner throwing spray, i think the spindles say here is an alternate way to go, by river instead of by sea. But it took a long time, used up the life thread. It may also signify that the population is made up of immigrants, as she doesn't touch her back which means a part of the history is lost. Murcia's other hand raised behind her is likely due to the fighting with Granada, which caused continual downfall from the 13th century until Granada fell in 1492. 

Cartagena's arms are low behind her, signifying longterm downfall. I just checked, and they had gone through many hands over time, and there were familial power struggles at the time of the vms that were not solved until late 15th century.

I think i have covered everything in the diagram and more, let me know if there is something i can explain further or better in order for you to see it as i do, or, show me the error of my ways, i would be interested in whether and or why you do or do not see it as i do given this outline. Thanks for reading.

(27-12-2020, 08:11 AM)Linda Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]The nymphs are Malaga, Grenada, and Almeria, which stand for the regions or provinces to which their names apply.[/font]

Almería under the Christians was always part of the old Kingdom of Granada, it wasn't a province until 1822; the following year it was dissolved and returned to Granada until a further political reform in around 1835. Although it was briefly an independent Moorish kingdom in the 1000's, it was captured by Christians for a few years  and then Granada captured it. Almería was no more than a city for centuries.

The 1436 story of the Almanzora defeat of the Moors by the Christians is supposed to give the name to the river:

Quote:Locals say that their ancestors told them that the name comes from Moorish times, when Caliph Mohammed Almanzor was returning with his troops from a sortie into the Levante. When he reached the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. of this river, he was warned by an old crone of its dangerous flash floods. Seeing the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. clouds gathering in the mountains, he wisely decided to traverse the river further downstream.
On his way with his troops, he stopped at a You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. fountain, famous for the purity of its waters, to slake his thirst. There he spotted a famous local beauty, a young Christian woman, filling her urns with You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. at the fountain.
Falling instantly in love with the young girl, he ordered his troops to seize her, announcing that she would be taken with him back to his palace in Córdoba.
But that evening, when the army stopped for the night, having crossed the dangerous riverbed and carried on their way towards Córdoba, locals from the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. who had followed the army managed to free the girl, and they fled back to their home. Followed by the furious army, they managed to cross the river, which at that moment was just starting to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. By the time the Moorish army reached the riverbank, the flood was well underway, and the Moorish troops refused to cross.
The great Caliph, impotent and in a fit of rage, sank to his knees and sobbed. At seeing their leader, who had won so many battles and was a great leader of men, reduced to tears by a river and a lost love, his men cried out ¡Almanzor llora! ¡Almanzor llora! (Almanzor, he cries!).
And from that moment on, the river was known by the wailing of his troops – Almanzora.
————
*Via Professor Pedro Perales “El nombre del río Almanzora (leyenda popular)” & recounted in Axarquía (vol 15).

It's dry most of the year, but known for its hellish flash floods.

Hi David, 

Thank you for the comment. I went with Almeria because that is the location name today and for over a thousand years. It best matches where the nymph is standing, if you see the bay as being there instead of a bucket, the shoreline starts to look like a better match, i think the details have been minimized to obfuscate. This is to be looked at with the eyes of someone who already knew the shapes of the various seas, perhaps someone who spent time copying maps for someone else, and this was his mnemonic version to keep for himself without anyone knowing what he had. 

The nymph stands for the larger region containing the river Almanzora. I did not mean the current province, as i believe we are talking more like turn of the millenium or even earlier, but geographically you can see how Almeria and Granada can be seen to be somewhat separate. The current province does generally represent what i am talking about as a region though. The red part on the tiny map of Andalusia bottom right corner within the map below.



I only know of Almeria what i read about it because the vms creators told me to look it up by the drawing the Alboran Sea and putting a nymph there. But it is precisely because Almeria has been a city for centuries that it should be Almeria that is shown, if we are including the most notable places along the shoreline, and especially insofar as defining a body of water, it becomes even more important as a milestone, and that the river is included in the imagery is indicative of a little further than the city itself.

Maybe the name should be Indaletius, for the patron Saint of Almeria. Or, the name could be Urci, we might be talking about Roman times, not 15th century, some say it is a former name of Almeria, some say Urci was closer to the river Almanzora. Maybe the name could be Pechina, a Yemeni colony on the site of Urci in the 9th century. It also had a fortress and a navy.



In 955 Almeria became a city and construction of the Alcazaba de Almeria began.

The nymph is in a barrel or short tube. These are, to me, sheltered ports. This either indicates a natural bay, wherein one can defend a great deal of territory by patrolling between the headlands, or a fortified port, or both. Here we have both, in that Almeria can be easily spotted on the map by its large bay, and has been fortified at various times in the past.

The water in the short tube is blue, this indicates fresh water.  The green is salt, and the estuary is indicative of fresh water also with blue running through the green tube (tube means navigable river). The silt falls out of it though, this to me means larger ships may have difficulty, and in conjunction with the tube being held aloft gives the idea of dripping, as in empty, so this could also denote that it was mostly dry, as you say.

She might better be named Almanzora for the river she holds, but then, that wasn't the name at the time either, unless we think of the late 1430s as the starting point for writing rather than an end point. Maybe we should. The shape of the waterbody tells me where she is, the upright tube told me the river to the east of her rises (to me that means floods). That she holds it tells me that was considered connected, and likely indicates the extent of the Alboran sea, or whatever it was called by whomever the original information came from, or what it was called by the vms creators.  

Whatever her name is, it seems more than coincidental that the description as read by the imagery seems to say the same as the IMMA map, cutting off at the Almanzora delta, but yet extends to the next large promontory at Cartegena.





Malaga was also a part of Granada at the time. I chose Malaga as the name for the first nymph because Strabo said it was the first city past Gibraltar, although he called it Malaca. Granada is between the two so i chose it as the name for the middle one. (Oops i mispelled it previously, Grenada is the island in the Caribbean). Wiki says Malaga was the main Nasrid port in the 15th century, followed by Almeria. Cristians took it over in 1487.

I might have just figured something out. Leg distance equals territory coverage? Granada with her legs further apart stands for a bigger area than Almeria (with the bay) who again covers more area than Malaga. I will have to check on the rest.

(18-01-2021, 01:34 PM)Linda Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I only know of Almeria what i read about it

I live there  
It was known in Arabic times as al-mariyya (from whence Almería). It means something like "the tower of vigilance". It was originally a port for the more important mining centre of Pechina, but by 955 was its own Caliphate with the lovely fortress under construction.

Urci is considered nowadays to be near the modern city of El Ejido.

Almeria ? Acuadulce.

That's where they filmed Conan the Barbarian, with Schwarzenegger. In the fortress

Yes, the cheap extras and US style badlands of the desert made it a popular filming place in the 70's and 80's. Still have quite a few things filmed here now.

I hear the new Wonder  Woman (1984) movie was filmed there too. 

I had no idea you lived there, that is so cool! So,  can you see the resemblance with the Alboran sea that i am suggesting?

Difficult to say, I will have to look at it more.

Ignore the annotations on the vms crop, i couldn't get the extractor to work. The relief map needs to be rotated 45 degrees, with the Italian peninsula going straight up and down, to be comparable. It is the view one would see on a map of Italy with the boot perpendicular to the page. 

Bubbly blue layers in the vms are to me indicative of mountains. Rainbows are river valleys. 

I am suggesting that the Alps are the one on the right, with the semicircular interior and extended triangular exterior. The tornado looking one would be the Massif Central, which contains 450 extinct volcanoes, although it is pointing in the wrong direction. A 90 degree turn solves this. The 90 degree turn makes it so the shoreline goes perpendicular at that point, more like you are looking at a map of Spain.

See the two little pokey bits of blue coming off the rainbow on the right hand side? They match the locations of Lake Como et al, and Lake Garda on the edge of the Alps, respectively. The blue dot that is straight up but on the other side of the mountain is where Lake Constance is if you hold the relief map at the required angle. Straight up from Lake Garda.


The blue water would be the Bay of Lion. I think it is blue to show that a lot of fresh water runs into it, from all the rivers from the Rhone to the Tech in France, then more in Spain also. The nymph stands in a bay at the southwest end of the larger bay. This would be consistent with the Tech river delta. 



It does have an S bend in it at the source, and thermal baths as indicated by the red end of the tube in the vms. Or, it could be a river in Spain. 



The nymph is standing in a green bay that seems to be located at the southwest corner of the Bay of Lion, but the container extends to the right, then connects to the river tube. This may mean that the Bay of Lion was thought to extend to Barcelona, you can see a bit of a jog from what one might consider that 'corner'of the bay, perhaps this is what is indicated by the extension. Coincidentally, this is where the Balearic drawing at the bottom also extends to from the opposite direction. Whichever river it is, they all seem to have a source near Andorra. Barcelona, Andorra, and Marseilles are all indicated on f80r, among others extending to Genoa. This is a revisiting of that area, along with that of f80v, with further detail provided.