14-08-2026, 04:52 PM
eggyk, I basically agree with you. The only thing I wanted to point out is that the terms can be confusing, given that—while that scallop-shaped band could indeed serve as the sphere of air—its primary and true function was to separate the celestial and earthly realms. And that band represents, in many manuscripts, and also in the Voynich, the outermost sphere of the medieval universe: that of the fixed stars.
The reason I challenged Stolfi is that he advocates a cosmology featuring waters above—as described in Genesis—a view that is anachronistic given the Aristotelian understanding of the universe, which was already commonplace by the 15th century.
Since the Church did not wish to contradict what was stated in the Bible—even though it was already partly accepted that the text should not be interpreted literally—scholastic theologians and astronomers posited the existence of a ninth crystalline sphere where there was otherwise nothing; only frozen water.
The reason I challenged Stolfi is that he advocates a cosmology featuring waters above—as described in Genesis—a view that is anachronistic given the Aristotelian understanding of the universe, which was already commonplace by the 15th century.
Since the Church did not wish to contradict what was stated in the Bible—even though it was already partly accepted that the text should not be interpreted literally—scholastic theologians and astronomers posited the existence of a ninth crystalline sphere where there was otherwise nothing; only frozen water.