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Zodiac Imagery: Manuscript Collection/Discussion
- Zodiac Imagery: Manuscript Collection/Discussion
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RE: Zodiac Imagery: Manuscript Collection/Discussion
Pierre Dumont Himself > 12-07-2026, 08:13 PM
An interesting statement about the 1452-3 map of the world by Giovanni Leardo:
Quote:The astronomical details are followed in the third paragraph by the explanation of the calendar. The latter consists of eight concentric circles, of which the innermost gives the dates of Easter for ninety-five years, from April 1, 1453, to April 10, 1547; when Easter falls in April, A is written in the small compartment, when in March, M; leap years are designated by B (“bissextile years”).
Do you think it's relevant that the VM starts with Pisces rather than Aries?
The second circle shows the names of the months, beginning with March, which was officially reckoned the first month of the year in the Republic of Venice until as late as 1797 [8]; it also tells the day, hour, and minute when the sun enters each of the twelve signs of the zodiac.
[8] H. Grotefend, Zeitrechnung des deutschen Mittelalters und der Neuzeit, Vol. 1, Hannover, 1891, p. 203 (reference kindly suggested by Dom Hugh G. Bévenot of Weingarten Abbey, Württemberg, Germany).
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RE: Zodiac Imagery: Manuscript Collection/Discussion
eggyk > 12-07-2026, 08:36 PM
(12-07-2026, 08:13 PM)Pierre Dumont Himself Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Do you think it's relevant that the VM starts with Pisces rather than Aries?
Yes, potentially. So far, i've only seen (or noticed) one manuscript that did this: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Exactly like the VMS, the first zodiac symbol in the sequence is pisces. And also exactly like the VMS, the last two months (capricorn and aquarius) have been cut out at the end. -
RE: Zodiac Imagery: Manuscript Collection/Discussion
DG97EEB > 12-07-2026, 08:54 PM
(12-07-2026, 08:36 PM)eggyk Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
That's a gorgeous one and the drawings are even worse than Voynich... At this point how can anyone actually bet against Germany/northern Italy?(12-07-2026, 08:13 PM)Pierre Dumont Himself Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Do you think it's relevant that the VM starts with Pisces rather than Aries?
Yes, potentially. So far, i've only seen (or noticed) one manuscript that did this: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Exactly like the VMS, the first zodiac symbol in the sequence is pisces. And also exactly like the VMS, the last two months (capricorn and aquarius) have been cut out at the end. -
RE: Zodiac Imagery: Manuscript Collection/Discussion
Dracaena > 15-07-2026, 06:12 PM
Coming from the Virgo discussion: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Codex Guelferbytanus 8.7 Aug. 4°; Heinemann-Nr. 2973
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Found by eggyk
Virgo (f73) clothing, posture very similar.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. - notice the small plant on the left of the female figure.
Taurus posture very similar
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RE: Zodiac Imagery: Manuscript Collection/Discussion
eggyk > 15-07-2026, 07:01 PM
Ty @Dracaena, continuing on from the virgo thread, this manuscript is very interesting and may provide some insights into some aspects of zodiac imagery usage in general.
Firstly, there are 4-5 depictions of each zodiac, used in the following ways:
As a sign associated with a personified planet,
In a section discussing the zodiacs specifically,
In a section about comets, and
On a zodiac wheel.
With so many depictions within a single manuscript, looking for any differences between the sequences may give us some insight.
Take, for example, the different depictions of sagittarius:
Note that sagittarius is sometimes depicted as fully human, and other times depicted as half human/half lion. The clothing changes too, in both colour and style. In fact, the first example has some lovely sleeves that would have been great to see on a virgo. But this is within different copied works in a single manuscript.
However, in another manuscript containing the exact same work, you can see that the depiction of sagittarius on the exact same page is different:
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In other manuscripts, there are a mix of aspects. Some manuscripts contain both winged and non-winged virgo, some have both full man and half horse/half lion sagittarius, as well as many examples in others. Actually, in the Damstadt manuscript above, there is an example of exactly that happening: usage of both a half horse sagittarius and a full man.
So what gives? Are these different traditions, blind copying of the source material, or something else?
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By the way, a preliminary version for every zodiac symbol sheet has been added, so all/most of these images can be found in the various sheets by ctrl+f with the manuscript name. You can access the sheets via the bar at the bottom:
I'm currently filling out all of the entries with images and links, but given the sheer amount of them it will take some time. Any criteria i've added for ratings are just first drafts to get obviously better entries higher up. It's the plan to start making individual threads to discuss those criteria over the coming weeks, probably once i've managed to set everything up. (too many ratings threads at once will be too much to handle right now). -
RE: Zodiac Imagery: Manuscript Collection/Discussion
eggyk > 19-07-2026, 11:49 AM
Just a quick update/ patchnotes:
- A Homepage with a List of Contents has been added to better navigate to the various spreadsheets
- The sizing of everything on "up to date" sheets (taurus, virgo, categorisation) has been adjusted to accomodate a smaller screen by default
- Adjusting your zoom level to fit the width of the contents page (+ enough to see the text on the right in full) should now mean the other sheets are mostly readable
- (Tested at ~100% zoom level on a 21.5" 1080p monitor, some sheets require ~90% zoom)
- (I normally use a far larger screen so it's hard to gauge sometimes, especially with so many categories.
)
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Known issues being worked on:
- sizing on incomplete sheets is too large
- some page links are broken or point to the wrong folio
- context / use cases are missing on many entries
If anyone has issues viewing/using the spreadsheet, or any other issues or questions please feel free to PM me here on Voynich Ninja and i'll try to sort it out.