F82r as the Black Sea

[Linda]

I just noticed something about the nymph i think of as Genoa/Ligurian sea, at the top of page You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. that is helping me see it better.



If you make a straight line across just north of Corsica from just below Cannes where the sea last touches the shore, the resulting shape, including the green water in the container the nymph is standing in, fits the shoreline. The container part is to the south past the alps which happens to be the current border of Italy. Note the second pic above, see how the left line of the container follows the shape of the French shore, to the mouth of the Rhone. It includes the green water part. The outer edge of the container is to hide the info in plain sight by drawing another line to turn this into a container rather than show the shoreline drawn out. Whereas i had thought green to mean salt water, and perhaps it does indicate higher salinity to the south, but here there seems to be a political boundary indication as well. In fact the area in question, burgundy, or perhaps the county of geneva, had recently been dissolved (1401 for the latter).

I saw the shape because i was looking at a black and white pic of f82v, where the green and blue looked the same, and the shape is more apparent.. Note that the other nymph in the pic can be thought of as Corsica, and that Genoa controlled Corsica at the time. (Main export was bad tempered slaves, i think that could be why the red face and the marching stance.)

The Genoa nymph holds the Rhone, including the haut Rhone with its curve, in her right hand (her hand would be the location of Lake Geneva). The direction is a tiny bit off, should be more of a bend just before the curve. 



The other item in the left hand points to Genoa's location on the Ligurian coast. It seems to gather up the area of Lombardy, which extends from approximately Lake Maggiore to Lake Garda. 1421 to 1435 Genoa was under the rule of the Visconti of Milan, which is located centrally in the area described.



Maybe she is a mnemonic for Geneva/Genova. 

The rainbow and rock behind her i thought of as the Po valley and the Alps. Not quite sure why they are askew to the left, they seem to start at Genoa, instead of Genoa being central to the curve as it is in reality. Maybe it is also to help remember the closer Appennine Mountains, and the river system is the Arno and Tiber. They make more of a curve than the Po in actuality. Ah yes, i think now it is to show that the Arno empties into the Ligurian sea, hence the lines of flow into the blue area in the drawing



Another thing that struck me was that the Republic of Genoa included many areas highlighted in the quire. The sphere of influence  was quite far reaching and perhaps this is what this mnemonic suggests. Especially in northern italy, you can almost see the nymph and her spread out arms in the areas highlighted. The Rhone valley figures prominently as well.



I had earlier thought that the red colouring had to do with hot springs near where the eastern Ligurian border was deemed to exist, but it turns out there are hot springs near Lake Geneva as well, perhaps it is meant to denote both.

The red of the river valley, as well as the yellow (sulphur) also proves to be appropriate, there are various hot springs in the Tuscany and Lazio regions