The Voynich Ninja

While searching for older templates for the VMS, I came across Ms. Plut. 73.16. What was striking was the rough structure in the depictions of plants (which can also be found in older illustrations by Dioscorides, for example). In addition, however, there are multiple depictions of patients lying down during treatment. This would be a new interpretation of the illustration on folio f82r. Furthermore, there is a strange pipeline that allows water (?) to run over a plant.

Ms. Plut. 73.16 Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Die Medikamenten-Lehre Friedrichs II, 13th century
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edit -  Machine translation of the text (to be treated with caution):

“And with the same water, he shall sprinkle himself with a branch of the purified oak tree as the sun sets, with his right hand, and pray thus: Holy Goddess Earth and the rest who are written at the beginning.”

“Women's issues” are also addressed:

"..... Against a woman's blood flow:
As above, give her the drink and she should sip it while you say the magic words:
“Hebula, born of a snake, daughter of King Horus, who closed the woman in childbirth – may this (formula) close (this) blood flow of this (woman).....”

It is noteworthy that the treatment takes place in a pagan context.


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Thank you, Matthias, those are interesting parallels!

Couches in Pseudo-Apuleius (images from a different copy, also in Florence, Plut.73.41) You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. here.


The plant with the stream is “Basilisca” and the text begins on the preceding page 144v. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. the first part of the passage is transcribed (from a different, but consistent, copy).

Basilisca herb. One must gather it in this way: whoever gathers this herb, first, let him consider his own health and go forth purified from all things. Let his garments be pure and immaculate; when he goes, let no menstruating woman touch him, nor any man who is defiled. When he begins to gather the herb, before he approaches it, let him have oak leaves in his hand and spring water from three nymphs; and with that same water let him purify or sprinkle himself, at sunset, using a branch of oak with his right hand. Then let him pray: “Holy goddess Earth,” and the rest that is written at the beginning.

I don't know about the three nymphs: could it be the name of a spring? I guess that the star inside the mountain is meant to represent sunset?
The text about “basilisca” goes on in the following page f.145v, describing how the plant can be used and for which conditions.

For a complete translation of the prayer to Goddess Earth, see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. It’s a wonderful fragment of paganism that survived in Christian herbals through the centuries.

(22-10-2025, 10:26 PM)bi3mw Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.While searching for older templates for the VMS, I came across Ms. Plut. 73.16. [...] there are multiple depictions of patients lying down during treatment. This would be a new interpretation of the illustration on folio f82r.

Quite possibly.  However note that the green paint on that supine nymph is not original, and some (or even most) details of the drawing may be later additions/reinterpretations.  For example, I would guess that the nymph was originally naked, and some of what now seems to be bed cloth was in fact her left arm.

Quote:Furthermore, there is a strange pipeline that allows water (?) to run over a plant.

I suppose you refer to the last picture. As I see it (and the text seems to confirm), the blue is not a pipe, but a creek or river that receives at least part of its water from a hot spring sprouting from the side of a volcano and runs next to some buildings, maybe a town.  The three spouts take some water from the river to fill a large vessel, and the patient is soaking an oak branch in the water to sprinkle it on himself.  Sort of like people still do in Finnish and Russian saunas, I suppose...

All the best, --stolfi

(23-10-2025, 07:31 AM)MarcoP Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I don't know about the three nymphs: could it be the name of a spring?

from an You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.:

nympha-nymphae

noun

• declension: 1st declension
  
• gender: feminine
  

Definitions:

1. (semi-divine female nature/water spirit)
   
2. bride
   
3. nymph
   
4. water
   
5. young maiden
   

• Age: In use throughout the ages/unknown
  
• Area: Mythology
  
• Geography: Greece
  
• Frequency: Very frequent, in all Elementry Latin books, top 1000+ words
  
• Source: “Oxford Latin Dictionary”, 1982 (OLD)
  

So it could be a reference to the three spouts?  Or maybe some "Spa of The Three Nymphs"?

All the best, --stolfi

(23-10-2025, 07:31 AM)MarcoP Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I don't know about the three nymphs: could it be the name of a spring? 

Perhaps it is also a pagan thing. In Greek mythology, for example, there are the so-called Naiads. These were minor goddesses (nymphs) of rivers, streams, lakes, marshes, fountains, and springs.
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Three nymphs on a relief from Aquae Iasae (an ancient Roman settlement with thermal baths, now in northern Croatia).
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Consecration for the nymphs, “Nymphas Salutares” (the healing nymphs)
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Nymphas salutares / M(arcus) Rutilius Lupus tr(ibunus) mil(itum) / leg(ionis) XXII q(uaestor)
tr(ibunus) pl(ebis) / leg(atus) Aug(usti) leg(ionis) XIII Gem(inae)

(23-10-2025, 07:31 AM)MarcoP Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.It’s a wonderful fragment of paganism that survived in Christian herbals through the centuries.

That is indeed remarkable. I would not have thought that a 13th-century manuscript would contain such clearly pagan content.  I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of similar works from this period or later. Or is Ms. Plut. 73.16 a special case ?

A video on the topic:
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Book:
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Very interesting, all of it! Compliments.

I also find it interesting that only the nine names of the plant are listed here. Ameos = bishop's weed? (I'm not a botanist)

But when I look at bishop's weed and compare it with the illustration, I don't recognize anything. (But maybe it's a different plant.) If that's true, it would explain why the plants in the Voynich manuscript are so difficult to identify...

I also took a look at the original, thanks for the link!!!

Apart from the names, it only describes how the plants are used as medicine. If anything, there are brief descriptions such as: It grows in damp places, such as gardens; in case anyone doesn't know: for chronic wounds.
And then it continues with recipes.

What does that mean for the herbal section? I thought it was only a description....

Other pages also look similar to the Voynich manuscript... very interesting.

I skimmed through it. The nine names are not found at the top letter level, nor at the next level down, even when using prefixes and suffixes. And the page is very dense anyway, with repetitions, etc.

However, if you've ever been completely bored during one of those quiet hours and read Adriano Cappelli's “Lexicon Abbreviaturarum” from cover to cover  in the hope of finding a lucky break (and didn't end up in the loony bin ), then you know that there could still be a lot hidden there...

Yes, it's a shame to already know 9 possible names and find nothing, you have to investigate deeper, but it's still a ray of hope.

What helped me, however, is the structure of the pages in the medical book and what is described there. You should use this as a matrix, it could lead to interesting results. i will now change my matrix.

The ancient motif of the nymph at the spring was repeatedly revisited in later centuries. Here is a later example:

The Nymph of the Spring, (1514) by Albrecht Dürer, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

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The inscription is difficult to read. Here is a machine translation (as always, to be treated with caution):
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I am the sacred guardian of the fountain, a nymph of Symphia.
I sleep while gently I feel the murmurs of the water.
Spare my waters, whoever you are, who make the marble basin resound —
do not break (the stillness) nor make noise; whether you bathe or wash — be silent!


It can be assumed with a high degree of certainty that the combination of fountain > nymph was also a well-known motif at the beginning of the 15th century. This gives rise to speculation, particularly with regard to some of the illustrations in quire 13. Could this be a case of allegorically depicted (pagan sacred) springs and their medicinal use ?

edit: I realize that Dürer was a Renaissance artist. The revival of Greek/Roman motifs was already in full swing at that time. As far as the late Middle Ages are concerned, I would say that it was wise to depict such themes only in a “coded” manner.
With his depiction of swallowtail merlons in the VMS, the author may have been referring to northern Italy, where the Renaissance is known to have begun much earlier than in the rest of Europe.

Hypothesis: A Northern European author travels to Northern Italy in the early Renaissance. He is inspired by humanism and ancient and pagan ideas and encrypts his manuscript in order to protect the knowledge when he returns home, where the Renaissance has not yet begun. Timewise, this would fit perfectly into the timeframe.

Note: Ms. Plut. 73.16 originates from southern Italy. Nothing could be found out about its further provenance ( before Laurenziana or Marciana (1441) in  Northern Italy ). BTW: Florence was  the trendy city of the Italian Early Renaissance.

Quote:Codex acquired by Cosimo de Medici the Elder for the Medicea Laurenziana Library, Florence. Ms. Plut. 73.16.

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