Hi, my first post here.
Not sure if anyone has noticed before, but there is a striking similarity between the unknown device of Trajan column and the Voynich water piper or whatever those are.
and this drawing (Page 78)
PS this is my first post, I just joined because youtube kept suggesting the videos, also not sure what is the proper image hosting server people like to use here.
Any thoughts, opinions?
Cheers!
I see a resemblance between the barrel-on-a-string like structures in both, but I'd have thought the dangling parts of the trajan's column image were the more identifying ones, and they don't seem to be similar to the vms illustration in either appearance or positioning.
(02-08-2026, 10:33 PM)oaken Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I see a resemblance between the barrel-on-a-string like structures in both, but I'd have thought the dangling parts of the trajan's column image were the more identifying ones, and they don't seem to be similar to the vms illustration in either appearance or positioning.
Thanks, it is not a 1:1 resemblance, just like with many drawings from Voynich, but to me it looks good enouh to give us a hint to what the Trajan's device was used for.
What exactly do you see the similarities in?
I see that something goes through tubes in the device but it seems to be something solid like a dowel, as though perhaps a piston, to help with the movement of the device, whereas the vms drawing seems to have water flowing through the tubes. I don't think either will help identify the other.
Damiro, do you know about supposed connection of Voynich Manuscripts to works of Mariano di Jacopo called Taccola ( You are not allowed to view links.
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He made two manuscripts - De machinis and De Ingeneis which have really a lot of water pipes.
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It feels more direct inspiration than some sculptures 1500 years older than Voynich manuscript.
Of course a pipe is a pipe

So schematic drawings of pipework will always be kind of similar.
(03-08-2026, 07:02 PM)Rafal Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Damiro, do you know about supposed connection of Voynich Manuscripts to works of Mariano di Jacopo called Taccola ( You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. ) ?
He made two manuscripts - De machinis and De Ingeneis which have really a lot of water pipes.
See: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
It feels more direct inspiration than some sculptures 1500 years older than Voynich manuscript.
Of course a pipe is a pipe
So schematic drawings of pipework will always be kind of similar.
Ceci n'est pas une pipe
It's more probable the bas-relief depicts a siege engine used in the Dacian wars, rather than a pipe system. Maybe a You are not allowed to view links.
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Maybe you are right it is not a pipe. I heard once that Romans were really good at hydraulics and even close to invention of the steam engine. So they had pipes of different shorts. But here i really dont know what it is.