26-01-2026, 08:23 AM
I believe c2: the month names were added by a later owner.
Each diagram has 30 or 15 labels, and usually the same number of nymphs and stars (although in a couple of cases the star is missing, apparently errors by the Scribe/Artist).
That implies 360 labels/stars/nymphs in total. But a year has ~365.25 days.
Therefore the labels/nymphs/stars in each diagram cannot represent the days of a month. They presumably represent degrees of angle along the Ecliptic; and each diagram then refers to an arc of 30 or 15 degrees of the Ecliptic.
The understanding that each of the 12 signs of the Western Zodiac is a 30-degree arc of the ecliptic, rather than a certain period of 30 or 31 days, was current among the more astronomically oriented astrologers. But it implies that the 12 signs do not quite match the 12 months of the European calendar.
And indeed, the way the signs are defined means that each sign spans roughly 1/3 of a month and 2/3 of the following month of the current Gregorian calendar. In the Julian calendar, that was in use until 1582, the correspondence was shifted by about 10 days, so that each sign was roughly 2/3 of a month and 1/3 of the following month.
The sign of Gemini, for instance, today approximately goes from May 22 to June 21, but by 1430 it was approximately from May 12 to June 11. Thus the label "June" on the Gemini sign has been "1/3 wrong" since 1582 but would have been "2/3 wrong" when the VMS is believed to have been written.
That is a hint that the month names were added by a later owner. Another hint is the style of the letters, which AFAIK has been assigned to a later date by paleographers. And another hint is that, as you noticed, the Artist who drew the signs sometimes did not leave space for that name.
All the best, --stolfi
Each diagram has 30 or 15 labels, and usually the same number of nymphs and stars (although in a couple of cases the star is missing, apparently errors by the Scribe/Artist).
That implies 360 labels/stars/nymphs in total. But a year has ~365.25 days.
Therefore the labels/nymphs/stars in each diagram cannot represent the days of a month. They presumably represent degrees of angle along the Ecliptic; and each diagram then refers to an arc of 30 or 15 degrees of the Ecliptic.
The understanding that each of the 12 signs of the Western Zodiac is a 30-degree arc of the ecliptic, rather than a certain period of 30 or 31 days, was current among the more astronomically oriented astrologers. But it implies that the 12 signs do not quite match the 12 months of the European calendar.
And indeed, the way the signs are defined means that each sign spans roughly 1/3 of a month and 2/3 of the following month of the current Gregorian calendar. In the Julian calendar, that was in use until 1582, the correspondence was shifted by about 10 days, so that each sign was roughly 2/3 of a month and 1/3 of the following month.
The sign of Gemini, for instance, today approximately goes from May 22 to June 21, but by 1430 it was approximately from May 12 to June 11. Thus the label "June" on the Gemini sign has been "1/3 wrong" since 1582 but would have been "2/3 wrong" when the VMS is believed to have been written.
That is a hint that the month names were added by a later owner. Another hint is the style of the letters, which AFAIK has been assigned to a later date by paleographers. And another hint is that, as you noticed, the Artist who drew the signs sometimes did not leave space for that name.
All the best, --stolfi