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| Which changes to EVA would have the most impact? |
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Posted by: Koen G - 11-12-2016, 09:17 PM - Forum: Analysis of the text
- Replies (13)
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I think this is a very important question that might illuminate some things, yet I'm not sure if there is any answer readily available.
The question has been purposefully phrased in terms of "most impact" because I'm not primarily interested in rare characters and other freak occurrences, but rather differences that might affect entropy (thanks Anton) and similar properties.
I believe the alterations would mostly be to read as two separate glyphs something which in EVA is transcribed as one.
Perhaps the most obvious example is the different kinds of "caps" on the bench. I would try to distinguish there between the floater and the toucher.
But when I look at other glyphs, I also see significant variation, especially in the "tilt", for example in l and d. But those seem harder to tell apart.
What is your opinion? And is there a way we could test whether a split is meaningful?
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| Discussion of the Konstellations |
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Posted by: Koen G - 08-12-2016, 09:10 PM - Forum: Imagery
- Replies (92)
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I have been studying Quire 13 for many months now, and have written quite a lot about it. I thought it would be a good idea to make a thread where I can share the results of my analyses. And hopefully discuss your comments, questions, criticisms or additional ideas.
I decided to do my own "Jackson sequence" and call these things Konstellations because my name starts with a K. There is a good reason to not call them "constellations" because they diverge from standard depictions in a relatively consistent way.
What?
A Konstellation is two things at once, a synthesis of:
- A scene in an Ovidian myth, part of a narrative sequence that spans one or two pages.
- A depiction of an Aratean constellation.
I use Ovidian and Aratean in the sense "like Ovid" and "like Aratus". I am not certain that these specific authors were the actual sources.
Why?
I don't know - we will only be sure when we can read the text. It is known that myth and constellations have had a symbiotic relationship since times immemorial, and they were often transmitted together. See for example the Aratea tradition and the works of popular authors like Ovid and Hyginus. We also know that quite a number of Roman authors, like Cicero, made (creative) translations of Aratus' poem. The translation of Greek astronomical works was seen as a rite of passage or a matter of prestige, and many of these works survived into the middel ages, where they were translated and/or adapted again. We also know that many works have been lost.
All I know is that likely the VM images emerged from this fertile soil which, during many centuries, inspired men to write about stars and myths. It is no wonder that many Hellenistic myths were catasterisms, myths explaining the origins of constellations.
Obviously, the Voynich is different than anything we know. Whether that is because we are witnessing the last survivor of a lost tradition or an individual's creative effort is beside the point here - both remain possible, given the right source texts.
Where?
Konstellations are only found in a subset of Quire 13 folios. This subset has been distinguished by a number of previous researchers: Claston, Pelling, VViews...
The folios are: 76(v), 77, 79, 80, 82, 83. The direction of the stories is almost always right to left (!). From this subset, I am not certain whether 77, 82 and 83 follow the exact same pattern, so I will not discuss them here. That leaves five folios as the subject of this thread: 76v, 79r, 79v, 80r, 80v. The arrangement of the bifolios allows for the option that these pages were once grouped, though this is not strictly a prerequisite.
Overview
These are the stories I have analyzed in depth so far:- f79r Ceyx and Alcyone: Ceyx' ship is destroyed in a storm, Iris is sent to the realm of Sleep, Morpheus tells Alcyone the news that her husband is dead.
- f79v Scylla and Glaucus: Glaucus, a "merman", is in love with Scylla. He asks the witch Circe for a love potion. Circe is jealous and turns Scylla into a monster/rock instead.
- f80r Philomela (part 1)
- f76v Philomela (part 2)
- f80v Callisto
UPDATE 11 Dec 2016. Virgo moved to f80r, Leo and Taurus added, Cancer removed.
I am fairly certain (90%) about the following constellations so far. I do not include those with less certainty yet:- f76v Ara, Engonasin (Hercules), Lyra, Cygnus, Equus. Scorpio's tail is hinted at above Ara.
- f79r Perseus, Aries, Auriga, Gemini, Libra, Ophiuchus. Also both Equinoxes are marked. Locations of in-between constellations are marked with dots but not depicted.
- f79v Argo Navis, Piscis Austrinus, Triangulum, Delphinus, Sagitta
- f80r Scorpio, Pisces, Virgo, Aquarius, Leo, Taurus
- f80v Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, Draco, Bootes, Orion, Cetus, Lepus, Canis, Corvus-Hydra-Crater
Additionally, it seems clear that Cepheus, Cassiopeia and Andromeda are on top of f77v, but I don't understand much else from this folio yet.
The analysis of each Konstellation requires consulting primary sources. Those who collected myths, like Ovid and Hyginus, and those who described the constellations and their relative positions, like Aratus and Manilius. And many constellation manuscripts, like Aratus Latinus. These findings are not the result of free association, but of many hours of work. Fun, but work nonetheless.
The difficulty of communicating these findings is that - as is so often the case in Voynich studies - there is no complete visual parallel. I hope that by presenting the Konstellations in this thread, you will get an idea of the degree of consistency and the scope of this brilliant synthesis. With each discovery, my admiration for the person who made this has grown. It is like a dense poem, where each line says many things at once. Only, this is a poem of myths and constellation images.
Some of the earlier analyses on my blog have been made in the early stages, and they don't always reflect what I know now. For the time being, I would like to refer to my most recent posts, which analyze the constellation level of f79r in detail, and with a more mature understanding of the imagery.
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You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
I will add individual examples to this thread in the next days, but for now this general introduction will do. I will of course gladly answer any questions or remarks already.
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| Plant in f7v 'has dots on its leaves' |
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Posted by: Karenina - 03-12-2016, 07:50 PM - Forum: Imagery
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About the plant in f7v: it struck me that it has a single dot on each of its leaves. I thought this might be an abstraction, and signify 'has dots on its leaves'.
In that case this plant could for instance be Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis), which has dotted leaves, little flowers, and belongs to the Boraginaceae, which in general have hairy leaves .
See pictures: Lungwort (Pulmonaria) in photo, in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. MS Egerton 747 (Nicolaus of Salerno, Tractatus de herbis , c.1280-1310), and in Giorgio Bonelli’s, Hortus romanus, vol. 2, Rome, 1774, tab. 27.
Pulmonaria officinalis.jpg (Size: 27.3 KB / Downloads: 210)
lungwort-egerton-747p1.jpg (Size: 83.67 KB / Downloads: 225)
Pulmonaria Italorum.jpg (Size: 57.17 KB / Downloads: 230)
Is anyone aware of similar abstractions in representation in other herbal manuscripts of that time?
If was wondering if perhaps the 'image language' in the herbal section could be in general more abstract than one would expect.
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| The claimed Voynich page |
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Posted by: -JKP- - 02-12-2016, 03:36 PM - Forum: Imagery
- Replies (9)
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Unfortunately, I didn't download the image and I didn't bookmark the page, but ReneZ uploaded an interesting mention some months ago of a "Voynich page" which the owner feels is authentic (or authentically old, I can't remember which)—of one of the large-plant drawings.
The instant I saw it, it was obvious to me that it was not drawn by the Voynich illustrator and the person who had copied the text didn't fully understand Voynichese glyph forms, so I basically forgot about it until a few minutes ago when it suddenly hit me why there was something eerily familiar about it. I can't find the original picture anywhere on the Net so I can't compare them to check if I remember it correctly, but it struck me that it is similar to a specific style and so perhaps was done around the same time. Maybe it's one of the drawings that was copied and sent to one of the potential decipherers, since most of the owners of the VMS were reluctant to let the original out of their hands.
If so, then it would definitely form part of the provenance of the manuscript.
Does anyone know if there's still a link to the pic on the Web?
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![[Image: thatthing.png]](https://voynichviews.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/thatthing.png)
![[Image: luttrellf181r.png]](https://voynichviews.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/luttrellf181r.png)
![[Image: 1_c2b0_messahallach_tractatus_de_-_btv1b9077005g.jpeg]](https://voynichviews.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/1_c2b0_messahallach_tractatus_de_-_btv1b9077005g.jpeg)
![[Image: Fusoris%20Front%2012M.JPG]](http://www.astrolabes.org/pages/Fusoris%20Front%2012M.JPG)