02-05-2016, 05:06 AM
(02-05-2016, 01:11 AM)R. Sale wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I have to say that I'm with Sam G on this one. Is this an illustration of a woman being captured? Let's try a VMs thought experiment and imagine the drawing of a captured woman, who has just been set free. How would that be different? Or perhaps her smile isn't quite big enough?
In the myth of Procne and Philomela, Philomela's capture is the prologue to Procne's revenge. If you can't substantiate those events, how is the VMs illustration anything beyond generic - other than a clearly predisposed preference for finding something with classical Greek / Roman connections?
If the connection between the imagery and any legends that may have inspired them were meant to be overt, then I doubt if the text would have been written in an unknown script.
If the imagery is meant to be mneumonic, then only enough detail to identify the subject matter is needed.
I don't know if Koen's idea is correct, but it has some good touchpoints and the idea is worth pursuing at least for a while to see if it can explain any of the other inexplicable parts of the manuscript.