I think the vms artist knew about the Sea of Azov, it is on f81v, and i believe it is the facing page to this one, just as it is now, but that most of the others are shuffled. If you look at the bottom of the image, you can see one of the nebuly green fronds included on that page as a hint to the true placement. There is only one frond on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. with that orientation (up and leaning right, it is the furthest top right) with a waterway shown at that location.
![[Image: Panticapaeum.jpg]](https://turningpointsoftheancientworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Panticapaeum.jpg)
Notice the Cimmerian bosphorus goes straight down into a widened area, then curves to the left and back to center, just as the waterway is drawn on f82r, it is in the same shape as the lettering for the bosphorus. It is more like a linguistic likeness, rather than a visual one, as you were saying about the images, obviously what is drawn in the vms is not the shape of the bosphorus, but a translation from visual imagery to descriptive words brought about by describing what one sees in either case seems to match.
As laid out, it appears to be in reverse, and the river points to the northwest instead of the northeast, and even points west with a shortened bay. I think it's an obfuscation, maybe a bit of commentary on the size and placement of the sea in some maps (where Azov is almost as big as the Black Sea whereas clearly irl it is much smaller) or how they are copied, or the fact that in the early days you only got partial maps, not the whole thing in one piece. This one is more correct if you turn it so that the bosphorus downpipe is on the bottom, as it is in actuality, then that same shortened bay points the right way. The nymph positions are what stops you from that perception, again an obfuscation. It may also be a way to say we are not going that way right now, we will come back to it, but right now we are going northwest instead. I think the top half of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is about going up the Dnieper or Dniester (likely the latter as it is closest to being the mirror position to the Don) to the Baltic Sea, then following the shoreline back to Portugal. It marks the end of the tour of Europe. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. then goes through the Gibraltar Strait again and focuses on some of the Seas that were not mentioned the first time around, but the page after that is f75r, which brings us to the Caspian Sea, that we got to by retracing our original steps back to the Sea of Azov, this time going the other (actual) direction, following the Don and switching to the Volga at about the point where the drawn river stops, because otherwise it would have started turning off in the other direction, as the Don does at that point.
I do think the artist was an ace cartographer, or at least had a lot of knowledge of maps and places. I don't think they were going by info provided by the Burgundians, there is too much reference to historical map traditions, it is more like they are teaching you to read old maps by explaining some of the issues. I dont think it is about anything new, even the ecumene is an old one, by then it should have included Indonesia and China, more like the Genoese map or the Fra Mauro. If anything, the Burgundian section of the ecumene is noticeably absent and is passed by without mention. But why have a map of what you already know, right?
![[Image: f081v_crd.jpg]](http://voynich.nu/q13/f081v_crd.jpg)
![[Image: f082r_crd.jpg]](http://voynich.nu/q13/f082r_crd.jpg)
Notice the Cimmerian bosphorus goes straight down into a widened area, then curves to the left and back to center, just as the waterway is drawn on f82r, it is in the same shape as the lettering for the bosphorus. It is more like a linguistic likeness, rather than a visual one, as you were saying about the images, obviously what is drawn in the vms is not the shape of the bosphorus, but a translation from visual imagery to descriptive words brought about by describing what one sees in either case seems to match.
As laid out, it appears to be in reverse, and the river points to the northwest instead of the northeast, and even points west with a shortened bay. I think it's an obfuscation, maybe a bit of commentary on the size and placement of the sea in some maps (where Azov is almost as big as the Black Sea whereas clearly irl it is much smaller) or how they are copied, or the fact that in the early days you only got partial maps, not the whole thing in one piece. This one is more correct if you turn it so that the bosphorus downpipe is on the bottom, as it is in actuality, then that same shortened bay points the right way. The nymph positions are what stops you from that perception, again an obfuscation. It may also be a way to say we are not going that way right now, we will come back to it, but right now we are going northwest instead. I think the top half of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is about going up the Dnieper or Dniester (likely the latter as it is closest to being the mirror position to the Don) to the Baltic Sea, then following the shoreline back to Portugal. It marks the end of the tour of Europe. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. then goes through the Gibraltar Strait again and focuses on some of the Seas that were not mentioned the first time around, but the page after that is f75r, which brings us to the Caspian Sea, that we got to by retracing our original steps back to the Sea of Azov, this time going the other (actual) direction, following the Don and switching to the Volga at about the point where the drawn river stops, because otherwise it would have started turning off in the other direction, as the Don does at that point.
I do think the artist was an ace cartographer, or at least had a lot of knowledge of maps and places. I don't think they were going by info provided by the Burgundians, there is too much reference to historical map traditions, it is more like they are teaching you to read old maps by explaining some of the issues. I dont think it is about anything new, even the ecumene is an old one, by then it should have included Indonesia and China, more like the Genoese map or the Fra Mauro. If anything, the Burgundian section of the ecumene is noticeably absent and is passed by without mention. But why have a map of what you already know, right?