No text, but a visual code

[Jorge_Stolfi]

On the wall of that big tub there is a row of openings with straight sill and arched top, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

This idea amuses me a lot. It turns out that the girls on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. get to have hot water in their pools, but the girls on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and f81v—who are in similar pools—have been punished by being denied hot water.

Are you aware that the tub of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is connected to the two tubs of f81r, so that water flows from the former to the latter?  (Those two pages comprise a single illustration, and thus must originally have been at the center of a quire. That is a well-known piece of evidence that the bifolios were scrambled when the book was bound.)

So the girls on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. are getting hot water, like those of f78v, although second-hand.  Presumably that was the "economy class" section of the spa.

More generally, the Balneis is a description of the various spas and hot water springs in the region between Naples and Baia, known as the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. or "Fields of Fire".  The whole region is a giant volcanic caldera formed tens of thousand of years ago, connected to Mount Vesuvius. Most of the roundish landforms seen in that image are volcanic craters (geologist count 24 of them) within the caldera, created by large eruptions in past. In the Middle Ages there were many mineral springs in the region, many of which were exploited as spas. The springs and spas were widely varied in nature and alleged "specialty", from helping to pass kidney and bladder stones to restoring libido. There was even one specializing in priests and the conditions that came from their sedentary lives.  

So there were probably springs that were naturally hot, others that were naturally warm, others that needed an artificial fiery boost to be competitive.  The one that is proposed as the "inspiration" for You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. had a tunnel with a ramp or staircase leading to a pool that apparently was connected with the sea and therefore could be used only during the low tide.

Most of the spas described in the Balneis were apparently destroyed by earthquakes in the late 1400s and by the eruption in 1538 that created a new volcano, Monte Nuovo.  In recent years there have been hundreds of earthquakes in the area and significant ground up-and-down motion, that may be preambles to a new large eruption. 

That row of arches in the pool on folio 78v is merely a Gothic decorative feature that was in vogue in the early 15th century. Architectural motifs from churches were applied to small objects, as in this instance. Thus, the decoration of the basin creates the impression of a piece of goldsmith's work or ornamental architecture.

Wait, so you are saying that some details of the figures are meaningless decoration?

As for the idea that the Voynich's colors aren't original [...] it all sounds to me like: "If something gets in the way of my theory, I'll just dismiss it, and the problem is solved".

None of "my theories" depend on the colors being original or not original.  

The Late Painting theory says that the same person wrote the text and drew the figure outlines, with the same pen and ink; whereas the color paints were applied by someone else, without input or supervision by the Author -- often misinterpreting the original drawings and/or covering details of them.  This theory is not mine, and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..  

If the colors turned out to be original, that would not invalidate any of my theories.  But it would require many explanations for all the bizarre color choices.  Like the alternating red and green leaves of f3r, f11v, and many other Herbal plants, the red and white leaves of f16v, the red calyx and alternating blue-green and white petals of f40v, the alternating blue and green leaves of f44r, the blue calyxes of f46v, the alternating white and red petals of f51r, ..., the blue rays of the Moon on f68r2, ..., the pink bull of Taurus 1, the green crayfish of Cancer, the blue-spotted lion of Leo, the green stars of Libra, the blue-green dragon of Scorpio, ..., the green rainbows of f82v, ...

The Late Painting theory would be a single and simple explanation for all those bizarre colors.

All the best, --stolfi